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by IANS |
Kolkata, Jan 22 (IANS) All India Secular Front (AISF) has given an open seat-sharing arrangement offer to CPI(M)-led Left Front in West Bengal for the Assembly elections in the state scheduled later this year, irrespective of whether Congress shows interest in being part of that arrangement or not.
However, at the same time, the lone AISF representative in the West Bengal Assembly, Nawsad Siddique, has set a deadline for the West Bengal Left Front to take a final decision in the matter and convey the same to the AISF leadership by January 31.
"The process for reaching an amicable seat-sharing agreement should start immediately and should end by this month. At least that will be the attempt on our part," said Siddique.
However, AISF sources made it clear, that the call for the seat-sharing agreement is only for the CPI(M)-led Left Front irrespective of whether Congress becomes a party to that arrangement or nor not considering that the current West Bengal leadership of the country's oldest national party had already given filler that they are keen for going alone for the Assembly elections this year.
To recall, the AISF became a party in the three-pronged alliance involving both Congress and Left Front for the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2021. However, AISF went out of that alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, mainly because of the differences with Congress over seat-sharing arrangements in the minority-dominated districts of Murshidabad and Malda, which again had been a traditional stronghold for Congress.
"So this time, we are looking for an alliance with the Left Front, keeping in mind that there cannot be any settlement on this count with Congress. It would have been better had there been a grand alliance involving all non-BJP and non-Trinamool Congress forces. But considering the current political situation in the state, that solution does not seem to have any distant possibility," the AISF sources said.
As regards the new political outfit, Janata Unnayan Party, founded by suspended Trinamool Congress legislator Humayun Kabir, the AISF's point-of-view is clear. Siddique has already said that alliance talks with Janata Unnayan Party could only start if Kabir apologises for the communal comments made in the past.
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