Cong seeks more than 100 seats in West Bengal


Kolkata: In the run-up to the Assembly elections in West Bengal, the Congress has decided to ask its state ally Trinamool for 100 to 120 seats of the total 294 seats.
However, sources say that Trinamool Congress chief Mamta Banerjee is ready to give not more than 60 seats.
The state congress leaders will meet congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi to defend their demand for at least one third of the total 294 seats on Thursday. They claim that on the basis of its performance in the Bengal panchayat polls, they are justified to ask for that many seats.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, Trinamool had won 19 seats and Congress six. The party had also registered impressive gains in the statewide civic polls.
However, West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Manas Bhuniya demanded that Trinamool should concede at least 98 seats to Congress based on a 1:2 alliance formula, which was adopted during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
The seat-sharing for the 2009 poll was clinched on Mamata Banerjee's terms when Trinamool Congress contested 27 seats and Congress 14 while Trinamool's another ally Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) fought in one.