A day after the Congress and Samajwadi Party announced a formal seat-sharing deal for Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, there are indications that Congress could tie up loose ends in other States, including West Bengal.
A breakthrough in West Bengal could be a huge morale booster for the Opposition bloc that has been smarting from Janata Dal (United) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s switch to the BJP-led NDA last month and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s ambivalence.
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In a positive sign, the Congress-Trinamool talks that had completely broken down, have revived over the last one week. However, according to sources, the Trinamool has set a difficult threshold for the Congress to scale. The party continues to insist that it will only concede two seats to the Congress in West Bengal, and in return it wants one seat each in Meghalaya and Assam.
“In the 2019 general election, in the Tura Lok Sabha seat in Meghalaya, the Trinamool got 28% of the votes and the Congress 9%. Therefore we are rightfully asking the Congress to concede the seat to us, while we will work with them in Shillong, where they got 15% votes and we got 6%,” a senior TMC leader, who is part of the negotiations, said.
