Furfura Sharif cleric's ISF, other secular parties to be part of Left-Cong alliance

In a new political alignment inpoll-bound West Bengal, state Congress president Adhir RanjanChowdhury on Tuesday announced the inclusion of newly formedIndian Secular Front (ISF) of Furfura Sharif cleric AbbasSiddiqui in the Left Front-Congress alliance.

The Left Front and the Congress have already finalisedtheir seat-sharing deal for the assembly election likely to beheld in April-May, Chowdhury said.

''In the upcoming 2021 assembly elections, we willfight as an alliance of the Left Front, Congress and theIndian Secular Front,'' said Left Front chairman Biman Bose whowas also present at the joint press conference.

The ISF, floated by the influential Muslim cleric ofHooghly district's Furfura Sharif last month, welcomed theannouncement and said that the new alignment would be a game-changer for the election.

Neither the ruling Trinamool Congress nor the mainopposition BJP attached much importance to the development,but both said that the other party will be benefitted from it.

Chowdhury said in the press conference that not justthe ISF, the RJD and several other smaller secular partieswill also be accommodated in the alliance.

''The election will not be a two-cornered contest asprojected by the Trinamool Congress and the BJP. It would be athree-cornered contest as the Left and the Congress are verymuch in the fight,'' he said.

The ISF said it would hold talks on seat sharing withthe Left Front and the Congress on Wednesday.

''We want to be part of this secular alliance to fightagainst the BJP and the TMC in Bengal. This will be game-changer,'' ISF president Naushad Siddiqui said.

Sources in the ISF said it has already placed a demandfor 72 seats out of the 294 seats in the state.

''But we are flexible on the number of seats we willcontest,'' Siddiqui said.

Last week, the Congress and Left Front finalisedseat-sharing agreement for 230 seats, of which the Congresswill contest in 110 seats. The 230 seats include the 77 theyhad won in the last assembly poll in 2016.

At the press conference, Chowdhury said that only afew seats are left to be settled and the total number of seatswhich the parties will contest will be announced later.

''Now that the ISF and other secular parties are alsopart of the alliance, we hope to fix the seat-sharing dealafter discussion with the ISF,'' he said.

According to political observers, the inclusion of theISF in the Left-Congress alliance added an edge to thecoalition which has been eyeing to tap a portion of 30 percent Muslim electorate.

A deciding factor in nearly 100-110 seats in thestate, people of the minority community primarily Muslims haveacted as a bulwark for the TMC against its rivals till 2019Lok Sabha polls.

''The inclusion of the ISF in the alliance has providedan added edge to the third force in Bengal ahead of the polls.

We are confident that it would no longer be a two-corneredcontest in the state,'' senior CPI (M) leader TanmoyBhattacharya said.

According to observers, the Left-Congress alliance maynot win the elections but will act as a catalyst in thevictory or defeat of the TMC or the BJP.

''In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, a four-cornered contesthelped the BJP coming up as the main opposition as the LeftFront, and the Congress had fought separately. But in theassembly polls, the performance of the Left Front and theCongress alliance would be very crucial,'' political analystBiswanath Chakraborty said.

''If the alliance manages to cut into the oppositionvotes, it would benefit the TMC. And if it cuts into the TMC'sMuslim vote base, it would benefit the BJP. If the allianceperforms well, the TMC is likely to benefit most, and thealliance fails to evoke any response then it will help theBJP,'' political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty said.

Both the TMC and the BJP, however, claimed that theLeft-Congress-ISF alliance is not a significant issue.

''This time the elections will be between the TMC andthe BJP. The role of this alliance will be to cut into some ofthe secular votes of the TMC to help the BJP. We are notworried about it. We have defeated the Left-Congress allianceand also the BJP in 2016. This time too they will bedefeated,'' senior TMC MP Sougata Ray said.

West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh termed theLeft-Congress alliance as the ''B-team of the TMC''.

''It is very clear that the Left and the Congress areworking in tandem with the TMC to help them by cutting intoopposition votes. But such tricks won't work as the electoratewill either vote for the ruling party or us,'' he said.

In 2016, The Congress and Left Front had foughttogether and bagged 77 seats. The alliance broke after theCPI(M)-led Left Front walked away.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the proposedCongress-CPI(M) alliance fell apart after the parties couldnot reach an agreement on seat sharing.

After the Congress bagged only two Lok Sabha seats andthe CPI(M) failed to open its account in the parliamentaryelection, the parties decided to come together to fight the2021 assembly polls.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)