Mohammed Salim met Janata Unnayan Party chief Humayun Kabir amid discussions on possible seat-sharing ahead of Bengal polls.
The CPI(M) said any alliance proposal would first be discussed within the Left Front and with partners like the ISF.
The Trinamool Congress dismissed the meeting, calling the CPI(M) politically irrelevant.
West Bengal CPI(M) secretary Mohammed Salim’s meeting with Janata Unnayan Party chief Humayun Kabir on Wednesday has fuelled speculation about possible pre-poll alignments ahead of the state’s Assembly elections, even as both leaders played down talk of a formal tie-up.
According to PTI, Salim said any proposal for seat-sharing would first be taken up within the CPI(M)-led Left Front. The two leaders held an hour-long meeting at a hotel in New Town. Kabir is a former Trinamool Congress MLA who was recently suspended by the party and has courted controversy over the foundation laying of a Babri Masjid-style mosque in Murshidabad district.
“We will discuss the proposal in the Left Front and thereafter with Leftist parties outside the Front, then with the ISF,” Salim said.
Reported PTI, the CPI(M)-led Left Front had contested the 2021 Assembly elections in alliance with the Indian Secular Front (ISF), but failed to open its account. ISF leader Naushad Siddiqui emerged as the lone opposition MLA outside the BJP.
Salim said the meeting was intended to gauge Kabir’s political intentions, noting that several parties are yet to take a final call on seat-sharing for the polls. Denying that any alliance had been finalised, he said, “I wanted to know from him what he wants to do and what is his objective.”
Kabir described the interaction as a courtesy meeting, but acknowledged that discussions touched upon a possible alliance for the Assembly elections. “I have urged Salim saheb to ensure that the process of alliance formation is finalised by February 15,” Kabir said. He added that he had requested Salim to speak to the ISF leadership on the issue.
PTI reported that Kabir also indicated the possibility of his party holding talks with the AIMIM ahead of the elections. “Our aim is to defeat a corrupt dispensation and give the people of the state a transparent government,” he said.
Reacting to the developments, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said neither the CPI(M) nor the newly formed party enjoyed public acceptance. “The CPI(M) has become politically bankrupt,” he said, claiming that the party, which led the Left Front government in Bengal for 34 years, was now going around with a “begging bowl” for a pre-poll alliance.
(With inputs from PTI)
