Congress to contest all Bengal assembly seats it holds

Kolkata, March 13  The disputes over seat adjustments between the Left Front and the Congress persisted on Saturday, with the latter announcing that it will contest in all the 32 assembly seats where it had lawmakers now.

State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the names of the candidates will be declared from New Delhi.

The Congress had earlier named 75 seats where it would pit candidates. Some of those seats were included in the list of 32 constituencies Chowdhury announced on Saturday.

In two of the 32 constituencies - Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri, the LF has already announced its candidates.

Increasing the pressure on the LF, Chowdhury said he would announce a further list of constituencies in the next couple of days.

He said the Congress will also extend support to parties like the Janata Dal-United and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in some of the seats.

When reporters told him that the LF has already set aside two seats each for the JD-U and the RJD, Chowdhury said: "They have made the announcement, not us."

However, he said talks were on with the LF to narrow down the disputed seats.

"There was not much complication earlier. But now some complications have emerged. Trinamool Congress seemed very happy. But both Congress and Left front spearhead CPI-M have taken the initiative to narrow down the disputed seats."

He said the Congress did not have much of a problem with the CPI-M, but the main problem was with the other LF partners like the RSP, AIFB and the CPI.

"We are holding discussions on the seats which are overlapping. Our aim is hassle-free understanding. But if needed, we may have friendly fights," he said.