The Congress party has declared that it will run independently in all 294 Assembly constituencies in West Bengal during the upcoming state elections this year. This decision was made during a Congress Working Committee meeting in New Delhi. Representatives from West Bengal, including state Congress president Suvankar Sarkar and former state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, were present.
The announcement to contest independently without forming alliances with the Left Front or Trinamool Congress was made by Congress general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir after the meeting in New Delhi. Notable leaders like Rahul Gandhi and K.C. Venugopal were also part of this decision-making process. The party cited past experiences of weakened party workers due to alliance strategies as a reason for this independent stance.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who had advocated for an alliance with the Left Front, acknowledged that the decision to go solo was made by the party leadership. Observers believe that the complexities of a seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming elections had made a smooth alliance unlikely. The absence of key leaders like Sitaram Yechury and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has further complicated the alliance dynamics for both the CPI(M) and Congress in West Bengal.
