Left, Congress talks on in West Bengal to keep BJP, TMC at bay

NEW DELHI: A day after Left leaders skipped the Opposition alliance INDIA bloc’s rally in Mumbai, leaders of Congress and CPM asserted that the alliance hiccups in Kerala wouldn’t cast a shadow on the ongoing seat-sharing talks in West Bengal.The absence of CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI leader D Raja sparked buzz about their cooling of relations with the Congress. CPM and CPI were upset that the Congress fielded top guns Rahul Gandhi and KC Venugopal in Wayanad and Alappuzha, respectively, against their candidates. On Sunday, in a massive show of strength, the opposition came together in Mumbai at the concluding rally of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra.Prominent leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, DMK leader MK Stalin, NC chief Farooq Abdullah, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti and others attended the rally. However, CPM sources told this newspaper that the differences between the Kerala units of Congress and the CPI will not play a spoilsport in the seat-sharing talks in West Bengal. Last week, the Left Front announced its list of candidates for 16 out of 42 seats. The leader said the 16 seats were decided strategically, and the talks between leaders of parties are on. “The CPM is allied with Congress in Tamil Nadu and Bihar. Wherever Congress is in a dominant position, they try to play the big brother,” said a CPM leader.



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