Congress seeks 'adjustment' with Trinamool for Kolkata civic polls

Senior Congress leader and party in-charge of West Bengal K. Keshav Rao met Trinamool Congress chief and Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee here Friday to seek seat-sharing “adjustment” between the two parties ahead of next month’s Kolkata civic body elections.

“I conveyed to her what the party wants. There is need for adjustment,” Mr. Rao told reporters.

Trinamool Congress, the dominant opposition party in the state, has offered the Congress 25 of the 141 seats in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections, much below the 51 the Congress had demanded. Party leaders in West Bengal have conveyed their resentment to the central leadership over this.

The Trinamool Congress Wednesday announced candidates for 116 seats in the corporation.

Mr. Rao said his meeting with Banerjee was also about some pending rail projects in Andhra Pradesh.

He said the seat adjustment talks will be held by the local Congress units in consultation with the state leadership, and the Congress central leadership will not interfere. “My advice to PCC (Pradesh Congress committee) is to see that the jot (combination with Trinamool Congress) runs smoothly,” he said.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation will go to the polls along with 80 other municipalities in the state May 30. The seat sharing is expected to have a bearing on the understanding between two parties for other municipalities.