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Congress-Trinamul pact pays off in West Bengal |
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Results of the by-elections to three Lok Sabha seats and one Assembly constituency in West Bengal did not throw up any surprises, or upsets. The Left Front retained Purulia and Katwa Lok Sabha seats while the Congress retained Malda, and the Trinamul Congress the Bangaon assembly seat. But both the Congress and the Trinamul Congress claimed that the results showed that the seat adjustments between them yielded a positive outcome.
Soon after the results were declared on Tuesday, Sept, 19, Congress president Sonia Gandhi personally telephoned Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to thank her for supporting the Congress candidate in Malda and for her party’s victory in Bangaon.
In a surprise move, the Congress and the Trinamul Congress had decided against fielding candidates against each other. In Malda, the Congress nominated late A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury’s younger brother, A.H. Khan Chowdhury, Mamata Banerjee did not field a candidate against him and even asked her party workers to support him, much to the annoyance of her ally, the BJP, which had already announced a candidate for the Malda seat. The Trinamul Congress also left Purulia for the Congress.
The Congress reciprocated by not fielding a candidate in the Katwa Lok Sabha seat and the Bangaon Assembly seat.
Veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu has flayed the Congress Trinamul alliance as one without principles. A day after Sonia Gandhi called up Mamata Banerjee, Basu said on Wednesday, Sept. 20, “the Trinamul tied up with a party (the Congress) which they had once described as the B team of the CPI(M).” Left leaders pointed out that despite the two parties working together, the Left Front was successful in holding on its seats.
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