Kolkata: The Left Front and the Congress held a closed door meeting regarding their seat-sharing ratio for the upcoming assembly polls.
Meanwhile, Indian Secular Front chief Abbas Siddiqui who was supposed to be present at the meet didn’t attend the meet citing that if the Left- Congress alliance allowed ISF to pitch 70-80 candidates especially in all the districts, then ISF will join the alliance.
Talking to Free Press Journal, ISF chief Abbas Siddiqui mentioned that though the Congress had urged them to leave the alliance with AIMIM, but didn’t clear about the demands of ISF.
“Our party’s chairman Nawsad Siddiqui held talks with Left Front leaders and demanded to field 70-80 candidates of ISF. The Left Front was supposed to hold talks with Congress. But no communication has been reverted. If they agree to our demand then we will join the alliance,” mentioned Siddiqui.
Talking to Free Press Journal, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that though the seat sharing is finalised but it will be made public later.
Referring to Furfura Serif cleric Abbas Siddiqui, the leader of the opposition in the parliament, Chowdhury said that the Left and the Congress are in talk with Abbas and have asked him to join their alliance.
“People are saying that the upcoming poll is a fight between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP. But it is not a two-cornered fight it is the three cornered fight as the Left-Congress is also in the race to beat both the TMC and the BJP,” mentioned Adhir.
According to Congress sources, the Left and the Congress had asked Abbas to leave the alliance with All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
Notably, the chief of AIMIM Asaduddin Owaisi had met Abbas earlier in January and had asked him to field candidates in all 294 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal and had also sent AIMIM observers across West Bengal in February to study the ground reality of West Bengal.
Addressing a press conference, senior Left Front leader and politburo member Biman Basu urged all the ‘secular political parties’ to unite with the Left-Congress alliance.
“Not just ISF and RJD, we urge all other secular political parties to join us to bet the communal TMC and the BJP. Though our seat-sharing ratio has been chalked out but it will be declared after ISF and RJD formally joins our alliance,” mentioned Bose.
