Seat share: ‘Stingy’ Cong has Left fuming

Angry Left parties said tonight that they would contest more seats in Maharashtra than the four doled out to them by the Congress high comma...

Angry Left parties said tonight that they would contest more seats in Maharashtra than the four doled out to them by the Congress high command.

It had taken 24 Akbar Road more than 48 hours to announce the list and when it came it appeared that the party would contest 154 seats leaving four to the Left, two to RPI Gavai, one to RJD and two others to Independents.

Even after the seat-sharing formula had been worked out with its principal partner, the NCP, the Congress had taken much longer than expected to decide on its own nominees and to take a final decision on requests that had come from the CPI, CPI(M) and the RJD.

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Even as the Congress announced its first list of 147 candidates, the Left parties were fuming. CPI leader D.Raja said: ‘‘We are extremely unhappy. Both us and the CPM will talk to our respective state leadership tomorrow and take a final decision.’’

He made it clear that the Left would contest more seats. In fact, the CPI(M) central leaders have been under immense pressure from its state leadership to bargain for more seats from the Congress.