By IANS
Agartala : Tripura’s ruling Left Front is mired in internal squabbles over allocation of seats among its constituents ahead of the Feb 23 assembly elections.
The Forward Bloc (FB) has threatened to field candidates to 15 seats against its dominant partner the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). The CPI-M has allotted only one seat to the FB although the ally is demanding three seats in the 60-member house.
“If our demand is not met soon, we will contest for 15 seats,” said Shyamal Roy, general secretary of the state unit of the FB.
“For the past 10 years, the CPI-M has been telling that the FB would be allotted two seats in the next assembly polls, but it never fulfilled its commitment.”
The FB has demanded that 10 percent seats be allotted to its partners.
“The CPI-M would be responsible if the votes of the Left parties are divided in the ensuing elections,” Roy said.
The Left Front last month announced candidates for 59 seats leaving one for the FB.
Front convenor Khagen Das said the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), the other two constituents of the front, would contest in two seats each while CPI-M would field candidates in 55 constituencies.
“The matter is still under discussion and we are hopeful that senior leaders of both CPI-M and FB would settle the matter soon,” Das told IANS.
CPI-M spokesman Gautam Das told mediapersons: “Since 1978 the FB has been contesting in one seat while the CPI and RSP in two seats each. This time also there was no major change of the political scenario in the state.”