Kolkata, March 21: Congress today finally agreed to a seat-sharing deal with Trinamool Congress after days of hard bargaining but on the terms set by its key UPA ally, settling for 65 seats, one more than Mamata Banerjee had offered initially, against its original demand for 98.
Unlike in Tamil Nadu where ruling DMK had blinked in the battle of attrition, Congress had to eat a humble pie in Bengal again like the last Lok Sabha elections as Banerjee, who had announced a list of candidates for 228 seats last Friday leaving 64 for Congress finally agreed to add only one more seat – Canning East in South 24-Paraganas–considered a CPI(M) bastion where Congress’ chances of winning are slim.
The deal was announced within hours of a meeting between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the latter’s telephonic talk with Banerjee.
–Agencies