The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is not willing to give up its claim for two sitting Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in favour of the Congress, putting seat-sharing talks between the two parties in jeopardy.
The parties have held several rounds of talks but were unable to end the impasse over Raiganj and Murshidabad seats. The CPM had won only these seats in the last Lok Sabha elections from West Bengal.
"No. We offered no contest in sitting seats formula. It's now up to them," a senior CPM leader said to a query on whether the party was ready to negotiate on these two seats.
The comments came after West Bengal Congress Committee president Somen Mitra flew to Delhi on Wednesday to discuss the issue with Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Gandhi reportedly assured Mitra that he would talk to CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury to end the impasse.
Somen Mitra had on Tuesday written a letter to Rahul underlining the need for an alliance with the CPM to check the growth of BJP in Bengal and to oust the ruling Trinamool Congress in the 2021 assembly polls.
Mitra mentioned that many Congress leaders were keen to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Raiganj and Murshidabad.
With the CPM and the Congress firm on contesting these seats, the deadlock is persisting.
If they fail to resolve the issue, the common objective of countering the ruling Trinamool Congress and checking the growing influence of the BJP in the state, which has 42 parliamentary constituencies, may go for a toss.
"These are (our) two sitting seats, why should we vacate it? It makes no sense," a Left Front leader said.
CPM Politburo member Mohammad Salim had won the Raiganj seat in north Bengal by around 1,600 votes, while Badaruddoza Khan had won the Murshidabad constituency with a margin of around 18,000 votes in 2014.
The CPM won these seats in a four-cornered contest. The seats have been traditional Congress strongholds, which is why the party is staking claim to contest.
North Dinajpur's Raiganj had been a pocket borough of Congress stalwart Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi.
Murshidabad's politics had been dominated by the party's firebrand leader and former Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
"If they do not want an alliance, then the Left Front will decide. In elections, we have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C," CPM's Salim said.
The Congress' stand is that these seats are the party's bastions, which it lost by narrow margins in 2014.
The CPM Central Committee had proposed a 'no mutual contest' formula in the six seats currently held by the Congress and the Left Front in West Bengal.
The CPM stand is that both the parties should contest the seats it won last time.
It is ready to back the Congress in Baharampur, Jangipur, North Malda and South Malda - from where it had won in 2014.
North Malda MP Mousam Noor, who won in a Congress ticket, had switched over to the Trinamool Congress camp a few days ago.
In fact, the CPM even persuaded Left Front constituent Revolutionary Socialist Party to opt out of the contest from Baharampur, which had been electing Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury since 1999.
The RSP had been traditionally contesting from Baharampur for the Left Front. But even such gestures have failed to end the deadlock as the parties stick to their stand on Murshidabad and Raiganj seats.
It seems only a top-level intervention – by Congress high command or the CPM central leadership - can end the impasse now.