Left parties await clarity as Grand Alliance seat-sharing talks reach crucial phase | Patna News

Patna: All eyes in the three Left parties are on the ongoing parleys in Delhi between top Congress leaders and RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav over seat-sharing. The two overriding issues are the number of seats to be shared by them, and also questions regarding specific seats that would finally go to them.Of the 243 assembly seats, nominations for 121—going to polls in the first phase—will end on Oct 17. The notification for the second phase, covering 122 seats, will be issued on Oct 13. This has added urgency to finalising the seat-sharing formula, particularly for the first phase.Before leaving for Delhi, Tejashwi sounded optimistic, telling reporters that “everything is fine”. However, former state Congress chief and Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Prasad Singh acknowledged “teething problems” in the talks which, he said, would be resolved soon.Amid this, the Left parties and other alliance partners face their own challenges. Each has submitted a wish list of seats, covering both phases, which many consider inflated. In addition, overlapping claims among the RJD, Congress, and the three Left parties—CPI(ML), CPI, and CPM—have complicated the negotiations, especially over seats currently held by the CPI(ML).The Congress has staked claim to Bachhwara, Harlakhi and Begusarai—seats also on the CPI’s wish list—arguing that they have been traditional Congress bastions. The CPM, meanwhile, is contesting the RJD’s claim to the Matihani seat in Begusarai district, which it lost narrowly in 2020.Similarly, the RJD is keen to field candidates in Paliganj, Ghosi and Tarari—constituencies that the CPI(ML) considers its own. The CPI(ML) currently holds Paliganj and Ghosi, while it lost Tarari to the JD(U) in a bypoll last year.According to sources, the RJD believes the CPI(ML) won these seats in 2020 largely due to the RJD’s natural vote transfer to its candidates.Despite the competing claims, Left leaders are hopeful that Congress and RJD leaders will take a holistic view of the alliance’s seat-sharing exercise, mindful of the larger goal of defeating the NDA and avoiding friendly fights. The expectation within the alliance is that the issues will be resolved amicably, with a formal announcement of the seat distribution likely at a joint press conference in Patna on Tuesday.