The West Bengal Congress announced on Saturday its plan to participate in two of the four upcoming bypolls in the state on July 10. Additionally, the party declared its support for CPI(M) candidates in the other two constituencies.
A senior leader from the state Congress revealed that the party's candidates will contest from Raiganj in North Dinajpur district and Bagda in North 24 Parganas district. Meanwhile, the CPI(M) will field candidates in Ranaghat Dakshin in Nadia district and Maniktala in Kolkata.
Interestingly, the Left Front had already named CPI(M) candidates for Ranaghat Dakshin and Maniktala on Friday night, along with a candidate from its ally All India Forward Bloc for Bagda.
Regarding the decision to contest Bagda independently, the Congress leader explained, “While the other allies in the Left Front have always been open about seat-sharing talks with us, Forward Bloc is the only ally that has gone against it. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, Forward Bloc fielded its candidate against the Congress in Cooch Behar. So this time we have decided to field our candidate from Bagda as well,” the state Congress leader said.
This move indicates that the proposed Congress-Left Front alliance will not materialize in Bagda due to these strategic decisions.
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