Left-Congress-ISF alliance stalemate nears resolution after series of meetings

After a meeting with Left and Congress leaders, ISF chairman Naushad Siddiqui said, "Our deal with Congress in South Bengal is done barring one or two seats. On North Bengal seats, the Congress will inform us via telephone."

The stalemate over the alliance between the Left, Congress and ISF occurred after Abbas demanded seats from the Congress' kitty and more so from Chowdhury's bastion, heavily minority-dominated Malda and Murshidabad.

On the question of yielding the bastion seats to the ISF, Chowdhury Monday said, "We had agreed upon a formula that we would candidates on winnings seats."

Countering Chowdhury's logic, Abbas on a television debate said, "They (Congress) had won. But how can they claim the seats when all their elected MLAs jumped to the Trinamool Congress!"

The alliance, which initially had started between Left and Congress, got a new entrant in the form of ISF very recently after Abbas was given 30 seats from the Communist party's share.

But the cracks within the alliance were palpable during the Left's Feb 28 Brigade rally where Chowdhury and Abbas were caught in an awkward moment.

"I thank the Left leaders for giving us 30 seats to contest in the upcoming assembly elections. Wherever Left puts up candidates, we will guard our motherland with our blood... People may ask why I am not saying the same things for Congress. This is because we have come here to get our due and not to appease," Abbas said Sunday in a strong message to Congress.