Congress, Left to float ‘jote’ by January-end

Kolkata: Bengal Congress and Left leaders are yet to give shape to a joint roadmap for the Bengal assembly polls even as the Election Commission is set to announce elections by mid-February. State leaders from camps, while admitting the “delay”, are working overtime to finalise the mechanism by January 28.
“We admit the delay. We have two meetings on January 25 and January 28 to take stock of our strengths in the city and the districts and decide which party is going to contest from how many seats,” said former Pradesh Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya.
But Bhattacharya is not sure how far Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, also the Congress leader in Lok Sabha, could participate in the meeting on January 28 as the LS session begins on January 29.
Chowdhury bargained for 130 out of the 294 assembly seats in the last meeting, raising eyebrows among Left partners, including CPM. Sensing the Congress claim on Murshidabad seats, the Murshidabad Left Front has planned a stir in the district on January 27. Forward Bloc has also taken up an independent tractor rally in Uttar Dinajpur bordering Bihar’s Kishanganj to assert its strength. Purulia, as usual, is coming up as another trouble spot.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose on Thursday spoke at length with Bhattacharya over the probable dispute areas. Bose has extended the Left family to 16 parties, among which CPI(ML), RJD and NCP might ask for some seats that the Left Front partners would have to sacrifice for the alliance to materialise. The Left has also kept its doors open for talks with Abbas Siddiqui’s Indian Secular Front.
The Congress camp also has its own problems. Abdul Mannan felt let down by the way Chowdhury placed the demand for seats “without consulting” members of the election committee. Party leaders also have been taking up independent programmes other than joint Congress-Left rallies in places like Rampurhat.
But state-level leaders of both parties are not rigid on numbers. “I am ready to sacrifice provided all other parties, including Congress, share the spirit. I hope we can reach a consensus,” said Bloc state secretary Naren Chatterjee.
“It is easy to float a jote. But it’s hard to carry out the jote and make it credible to people,” said RSP state secretary Manoj Bhattacharya.