Bengal: Post-poll Left, Congress deal?

Kolkata: The counting of votes in the recently held civic polls will take place in West Bengal today.

All the three major players in the fray, the Left, Trinamool Congress and Congress, have a lot at stake in the polls, seen as the semi-finals ahead of the Assembly elections next year.

With the Left determined to prevent Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee from taking control of Kolkata, will we see a Left-Congress tie-up after the poll results?

While it will all depend on which way the civic polls results go, there are reports that the CPM has given the Congress feelers for a deal for a post-poll tie-up.

Sources say the CPM could support a Congress nominee as the next mayor of Kolkata as it had done in Siliguri recently. On record, however, the CPM has denied any alliance with the Congress.

2005 Civic Poll Results

Total Municipalities - 81
Left: 54
Congress: 16
Trinamool: 11

2005 Kolkata Municipal Corporation Poll Results

Total wards: 141
Left: 75
Trinamool: 42
Congress: 15
Others: 9