The “People’s Brigade” on Sunday turned into a duel on stage between the Congress and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) over seat-sharing arrangements while the Left was left to negotiate between the two.

The “alliance” of the three parties which seek to unite against the Trinamul and the BJP may have already shown the cracks.

The fiery speeches by leaders of the three parties raised the mercury on a scorching afternoon.

Within a few minutes of Bengal PCC chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhur y’s speech, he was interrupted during the entrance of ISF’s Abbas Siddqui who was warmly received by Left Front leaders who stood up to welcome him on stage. Adhir refused to continue, but Left Front chairman Biman Basu convinced him to carry on. Addressing the rally, Siddiqui showered praise on the Left Front for giving the ISF 30 seats, but he made no mention of the Congress.

While Siddqui clarified: “People may ask why I didn’t mention Congress while praising the Left. I want to clarify that we are not here to beg for alms but to establish our position as a partner with equal rights. We are not here to appease anyone.”

The seat-sharing arrangement between the Congress and the ISF is yet to materialise The Congress has also refused to give away its seats in Murshidabad and Malda which the ISF is eyeing.

The CPI-M state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra however highlighted that seat-sharing should not be the focus. “The aim is how to rid Bengal of autocracy and communalism,”

Meanwhile, CPI-M general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, took a jibe at the Trinamul Congress government in Bengal and the one led by the BJP at the Centre. He asked people to remove “loot ki sarkar” and “jath path ki sarkar”. He said the PM-CARE Fund was meant to loot public in the time of Covid pandemic and demanded details of the fund. “We want a people’s government,” he asserted.

CPI-M politburo member Md Salim said: “With the poll mercury rising, Trinamul is melting like an ice-cream and soon the BJP too will vapourise from Bengal. About 250 comrades in Bengal were either murdered or put behind the bars without reason in the past one year.”

Referring to Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee’s plush residence at Harish Mukherjee Road, he said: “Once we come to power, we will auction all looted properties of the TMC, including ‘Santiniketan’, and return every penny back to the people under the leadership of Biman-Adhir- Abbas government.”