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After a week of ambiguity, the Congress and its offshoot Trinamul Congress finally announced a formal electoral alliance for the May assembly elections.
They, however, failed to evolve a consensus on all 294 assembly seats, leaving 18 seats for 'further negotiation'.
At a news conference at the Trinamul's Nizam Palace party office in Calcutta, All-India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Bengal, Kamal Nath, said his party had struck an alliance with the Trinamul for 276 seats.
Nath, however, added that both parties could not break the deadlock on the remaining seats for some `differences'.
"The Trinamul and Congress will now fight the assembly elections together and support each other in ending 24 years of Left Front rule in West Bengal. Leaving 18 seats for further deliberations, however, does not mean the two parties have disagreement on any issue. The leadership of both will now appeal to their workers to fight together in order to reverse the history of the Marxists," Nath remarked.
On the undecided seats, Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee said that discussions would continue till Tuesday, before both parties will make a final announcement.
Mamata, however, declined to comment on the number of the seats both parties would have consensus candidates, adding that a final declaration would only be made after talks for all 294 seats were over.
"I expect the talks to be over in a day or two. Only then, we will tell you how many seats each party would be getting," Mamata added.
Nath interjected, "Sometimes, you can't discuss everything in a day. Let's admit the fact that we started our discussions late. But there is no denying the truth that the alliance between the Congress and the Trinamul is natural. However, our talks did not begin under natural circumstances. The synergy between the Trinamul and the Congress would evoke an overwhelming response from the masses."
Though Mamata and Nath tried not to divulge details on the share of each party's seats, Trinamul chief whip in Parliament Sudip Bandopaddhyay told reporters earlier on Monday that his party was determined in its resolve `not to concede more than 55 seats to the Congress'.
Making it subtly clear that the Trinamul was against friendly contests for 20 seats, as was the buzz in the political circles, Bandopaddhyay said that the Congress would not be given more than 55 seats.
According to Bandopaddhyay, the 55 included 26 sitting Congress legislators, while the Trinamul was yet to make up its mind on the fate of remaining. The Congress had won 82 seats in the last assembly elections, of which 39 switched loyalties to the Trinamul, following an exodus.
There was an unprecedented drama at Nath's Robinson Street residence in Calcutta on Monday. Mediamen, who began assembling at the All-India Congress Committee general secretary's house since noon soon after his arrival at 1230 hours IST, refused to leave the premises till Nath and Bandopaddhyay emerged out of a meeting room, to speak on the outcome of the deliberations.
Nath held marathon talks with his Bengal leaders, including Congress chief whip in Parliament Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pranab Mukherjee earlier in the day before Bandopaddhyay joined them with a message of Banerjee at 1350 hours IST.
Bandopddhayay, however, soon left the Nath's residence to apprise Mamata about the outcome of talks with the Congress leaders, only to return after an hour with yet another message from his party supremo.
Mukherjee confessed that he had been left outside, while Nath held closed door talks with Mamata's emissary.
A visibly dejected Mukherjee refused to comment on the Congress alliance with the Trinamul, saying, ''It is the sole prerogative of Kamal Nath to strike electoral deals with the Trinamul.''
The Trinamul's decision not to allocate more than 26 seats to the Congress' sitting MLAs has clearly come as a shock to the latter's camp. Sources within the Congress told rediff.com that the party expected Mamata to leave all 43 seats, where it had emerged victorious in 1996 assembly elections.
"Even AICC president Sonia Gandhi wrote to Mamata on Sunday night, with the same refrain. Sonia had even warned of having friendly contests in the remaining seats if the Trinamul did not oblige," the source added.
West Bengal goes to polls on May 10 and, according to a schedule announced by Chief Election Commissioner Manohar Singh Gill on March 31. Notifications will be issued on April 16, while the last date for nominations has been fixed for April 23.
The Congress has agreed to project Mamata as the chief minister of West Bengal.
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