# Cities

CPM-Congress Malda tie-up likely

As the rural polls in Malda knock, an alliance between the Congress and the CPI-M is very likely and taking…

Statesman News Service | Malda | March 15, 2018 4:32 am

As the rural polls in Malda knock, an alliance between the Congress and the CPI-M is very likely and taking final shape, party sources have said.

Discussions on seat sharing among the two parties have already started, though neither of the sides has confirmed it officially as yet.

According to party sources, the hurdles in making such an alliance have been overcome and block level talks are on the board for mutually sharing the seats.

It is also learnt that 40 percent seats of the Zilla Parishad is being claimed by the Left, though the Congress agreed for only 30. Both the party leaders said that they need time to fix the issue and they both admitted that the sooner they go for campaigns after clearing these hurdles, the better will be their chances to win.

Leaders of both the parties refused to make direct remarks on the issue of seat distribution. Mausam Noor, the district president of the Congress, said, “We can fight the polls alone. Considering the demand of the public, we have kept the alliance option open. People in the district know the dangers from the TMC and BJP so they want zero advantage to these parties.”

On the other hand, the district secretary of the CPI-M, Ambar Mitra, said, “The first thing is to strengthen the Left Front in the district to restrict the BJP and the TMC and to ensure that these two parties cannot take advantage where a Left candidate is absent.” Notably, such an alliance saw huge success in Malda in the last Assembly elections, as the TMC failed to open an account here in sharp contrast with the rest of the state.

According to party sources, discussions primarily started last Monday and a meeting on the Zilla Parishad seats was also held. “Block level meetings were also held in different places over the matter on Monday and Tuesday,” sources said.