Kolkata: A day after sealing a seat-sharing
deal with the Congress on her terms, Trinamool Congress chief
Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday broadened her alliance in West Bengal by bringing in UPA ally NCP which was allotted one seat in
Coochbehar district in north Bengal.
Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy told PTI the NCP was
made the alliance partner after telephonic talks between NCP
boss Sharad Pawar and Mamata Banerjee today.
Roy said, ''It has been decided to give NCP the Dinhata
seat in Coochbehar district where we had already named Mihir
Goswami as our party candidate.''
Roy said NCP would now contest the seat against the Left
Front candidate there.
In the 2006 Assembly election, Ashok Mondal of Trinamool
Congress had won the Dinhata seat, bordering Bangladesh,
defeating his nearest rival Udayan Gupa of Left Front
constituent Forward Bloc.
Mondal was not renominated by the party this time and in
his place Gowswami was fielded.
There are nine seats in Coochbehar district, six of which
would be contested by the Trinamool Congress, two by Congress
and one by NCP.
Out of the total 294 seats up for grabs, Trinamool
Congress would contest 227, Congress 65, SUCI two and now NCP
one.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 18:21