In 2011, the Congress shaped a coalition with the Trinamool Congress (TMC), ending the Left’s 34-year rule in Bengal that yr. The Congress fought the 2016 and 2021 meeting polls in collaboration with the Left.
Ranajit Mukherjee, a member of the Congress’ West Bengal Rural Political Affairs Committee, stated the response from staff and celebration leaders to the announcement was “very optimistic”.
“In Congress strongholds like Malda, Murshidabad and Uttar Dinajpur, we’re the principle opposition celebration and we’ll use our energy to win seats. In South Bengal, the place the alliance coverage of the previous twenty years has decimated the Congress, we’re lastly in a position to current ourselves as an choice. We hope to regain the assist of the Congress ecosystem and construct on it. This might be a four-way contest and the Congress will do properly.” 2026 meeting elections,” Mukherjee advised ThePrint.
Get together insiders stated the Congress central management was additionally not in favor of an alliance with the Left this time because of the restricted vote share within the final elections and the upcoming polls in Kerala. The Congress-led United Democratic Entrance (UDF) is attempting its finest to oust the Left Democratic Entrance (LDF) from energy within the upcoming polls.
On the problem of a attainable alliance with the ruling TMC, the central management was much less reluctant. In accordance with senior leaders who attended Thursday’s evaluation assembly at Kharge’s residence, Rahul requested Bengal leaders whether or not there had been any makes an attempt by the TMC to determine contact.
“After they stated ‘no’, Mr. Rahul instantly supported Mr. Sarkar’s proposal,” the chief advised ThePrint.
Sources stated Sarkar’s stance on the alliance problem was formed by suggestions acquired from a majority of Bengal Congress officers, together with district presidents of the Bengal Congress.
“The prevailing view throughout the Bengal celebration is that the Congress stands to achieve nothing from the alliance. If this occurs, at the least its organizational construction might be working in areas the place it has not contested for years. It is going to additionally permit the celebration to construction its election marketing campaign on anti-incumbency traces,” stated a senior Congress chief.
One other issue weighing closely on the leaders’ minds was that “left-wing votes have a tendency to not be transferred to parliament, thereby rendering the entire thought of an alliance ineffective.”
On the assembly, Chaudhary insisted on an alliance with the Left regardless of realizing he was within the minority and identified that the Congress had didn’t deploy Sales space Degree Brokers (BLAs) in many of the cubicles in the course of the particular intensive revision of the electoral rolls within the japanese provinces.
Since 2016, the Congress has contested two parliamentary elections and one Sabah election in alliance with the Left, however stays a marginal and struggling pressure in West Bengal politics.
Again in 2011, when the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was a part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), it received 184 out of 294 seats, whereas the Congress secured 42 seats.
In 2016, the Congress joined fingers with the Left to unseat the TMC. Though the Congress received 44 seats, greater than the CPI(M)’s 26 seats, it lagged far behind when it comes to vote share, getting simply 12.25 per cent towards the CPI(M)’s 19.75 per cent. The TMC received an awesome victory within the elections, profitable 211 seats with an awesome vote share of 44.9 per cent.
Efforts to revive the Left-Congress alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections have failed, forcing the Congress to contest elections alone for the primary time since 2006. This consequence highlighted the weakening of the celebration’s organizational energy. The celebration received solely two of the 40 seats it contested, with a vote share of simply 5.67 p.c.
The alliance has been revived for the 2021 parliamentary elections, this time with the addition of the Islamic cleric-led Indian Secular Entrance (ISF). The outcomes have been dire for each companions. Though neither the Congress nor the Left received a single seat, the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) emerged as the principle opposition celebration to the TMC.
The Congress contested 91 seats however bought solely 2.93 per cent vote share. The Left Entrance, contesting in 138 constituencies, secured 9.32 p.c. This sample was repeated within the 2024 common election. With the political wrestle within the state firmly polarized between the TMC and the BJP, the alliance created a vacuum for the Left and gave the Congress only one seat.
That is an up to date model of the report.
