Congress to go solo in WB after talks stalemate on LS seat sharing with Left

Kolkata: West Bengal Congress on Sunday ended all possibilities of an alliance with the Left Front in West Bengal and announced it will contest all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state on its own.

This comes two days after the Left Front announced its candidates in 25 seats out of 42 parliamentary seats in West Bengal.

"Left Front announced its candidates in 25 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal on March 15 without any discussion with West Bengal Congress. Due to the unyielding behaviour of CPI (M) and its ally parties in the Left Front, we are calling off the proposed seat sharing in the state and have decided to fight BJP and Trinamool Congress in Bengal with our own force," said West Bengal Congress president Somen Nath Mitra.

The CPI (M)-led Left Front in West Bengal on Friday released a list of 25 candidates in the state for the Lok Sabha elections.

The 25 seats include Raiganj and Murshidabad, currently held by CPI(M). The party had declared its candidates for these constituencies earlier. Out of 25 seats, CPI (M) has fielded its candidates on 15 seats.

In a statement, Left Front chairman Biman Basus said that the remaining 17 constituencies would be contested either by the Left Front or the Congress.

Last month, Mitra ruled out any possibility of an alliance with the Trinamool Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls stating that nobody from the party, including its workers, wanted an alliance with TMC.

Currently, there are four Congress Lok Sabha Members of Parliament in West Bengal.