In 2011, the Congress was in a coalition with the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which ended the Left’s 34-year-old run in Bengal that yr. The Congress fought the 2016 and 2021 meeting polls in partnership with the Left.

Occasion insiders mentioned that this time, the Congress central management was additionally not in favour of tying up with the Left owing to its restricted electoral returns within the earlier elections, as additionally the approaching ballot in Kerala. The Congress-led United Democratic Entrance (UDF) goes all out to dislodge the Left Democratic Entrance (LDF) from energy within the upcoming polls.

On the query of a possible tie-up with the ruling TMC, the central management was not as averse. In line with a senior chief current at Thursday’s evaluation assembly at Kharge’s residence, Rahul requested Bengal leaders if there was any try by the TMC to ascertain contact.

“After they mentioned ‘no’, Rahul endorsed Sarkar’s proposal immediately,” the chief instructed ThePrint.

The sources mentioned that Sarkar’s stance on the alliance questions have been formed by suggestions that he acquired from a big majority of the Bengal Congress office-bearers, together with its district presidents.

“The dominant considering among the many Bengal unit is that the Congress doesn’t stand to achieve something in an alliance. If it goes alongside, at the very least its organisational equipment will activate itself in areas the place it has not contested for years. It can additionally allow the social gathering to border its marketing campaign on an anti-incumbency plank,” the Congress functionary mentioned.

One other issue that weighed within the thoughts of the leaders was the “pattern of Left votes not getting transferred to the Congress, thus rendering the entire concept of an alliance futile”.

Within the assembly, Chowdhury, regardless of discovering himself within the minority, batted for an alliance with the Left, mentioning the Congress was unable to deploy Sales space Degree Brokers (BLAs) in most cubicles throughout the Particular Intensive Revision of voter rolls within the jap state.

Since 2016, the Congress has fought two Meeting elections and one Lok Sabha election in alliance with the Left, but it has remained a marginal and struggling power in West Bengal politics.

Again in 2011, when the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was a part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), it received 184 seats within the 294-member Meeting, whereas the Congress secured 42.

In 2016, the Congress joined arms with the Left in an try and unseat the TMC. Whereas the Congress received 44 seats—greater than the CPI(M)’s 26—it lagged considerably in vote share, polling simply 12.25 % in opposition to the CPI(M)’s 19.75 %. The TMC swept the election, successful 211 seats with a commanding vote share of 44.9 %.

Efforts to revive a Left-Congress alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections failed, forcing the Congress to contest alone for the primary time since 2006. The end result underlined the social gathering’s eroded organisational energy: it received solely two of the 40 seats it contested, with a vote share of simply 5.67 %.

The alliance was revived for the 2021 Meeting elections, this time with the inclusion of the Indian Secular Entrance (ISF), led by an Islamic cleric. The end result was disastrous for each companions. Neither the Congress nor the Left received a single seat, whereas the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) emerged because the principal opposition to the TMC.

The Congress, which contested 91 seats, managed a mere 2.93 % vote share. The Left Entrance, contesting 138 constituencies, secured 9.32 %. The sample repeated within the 2024 common elections: the alliance drew a clean for the Left and delivered only one seat for the Congress, because the political contest within the state turned firmly bipolar between the TMC and the BJP.