No breakthrough yet in Cong., Trinamool talks

By Malabika Bhattacharya

KOLKATA, MARCH 31. The discussion on seat-sharing between the Trinamool Congress and the Congress failed to produce any result with the AICC general- secretary, Mr. Kamal Nath, returning to Delhi this evening.

He would seek the advice of the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, on how to neutralise the ire of the party's sitting MLAs over the prospect of being sacrificed for the sake of a tie-up between the two parties.

In a significant development, the BJP put on hold the announcement of its candidates list for 294 Assembly seats as its leaders scented a deadlock in the Trinamool-Congress talks.

Upping the ante, the Trinamool leaders indicated that they would wait for the Congress to come back to the negotiating table by Monday with a durable solution and willingness to accept the 55 seats. Mr. Kamal Nath said, ``We are broadly in agreement. What we need to do is fine tune it (the seat-sharing arrangement). I am certain, the exercise will conclude in a day or two.''

His efforts during the day to make the State party bosses, especially the sitting MLAs, accept the high command's line at any cost faced serious resistance with the MLAs pointing out that it was unacceptable. The reason they cited was that they would have to accept in their constituencies Congress deserters who had polled, compared to them, a low percentage of ballots in the last parliamentary poll.

``These very pertinent points cannot be rejected,'' Mr. Kamal Nath said. ``I am optimistic. Adjustments will have to be made after an assessment of the ground realities. The objective would be to see if the seats are winnable.''

Congress deserters such as Mr. Saugata Ray, Mr. Tapas Roy, Mr. Sadhan Pandey and others joined the Trinamool after polling a low percentage of votes in the previous election. Some switched over to the Trinamool a few weeks ago.

Mr. Kamal Nath arrived here last night to discuss the nitty- gritty of seat-sharing with the Trinamool chief, Ms. Mamata Banerjee. The meeting which ended well after midnight remained inconclusive. The AICC general-secretary conveyed the State Congress' position saying it demanded at least 72 seats. Ms. Banerjee, according to reports, is not willing to part with more than 55 seats. Mr. Kamal Nath will arrive here tomorrow to conclude the discussion.

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