Kolkata:
The tussle for seats in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is threatening to derail the Congress-Trinamool alliance.
On Friday, Congress leaders went on a three-hour hunger strike to demand at least 88 of the 141 seats. But Trinamool has already announced 116 names, leaving just 25 seats for the Congress.
The squabble in Kolkata has reached New Delhi, resulting in a meeting between Mamata Banerjee and Keshav Rao. Now Bengal Congress leaders want Pranab Mukherjee to intervene - before he leaves for Tashkent - and resolve what they call a humiliating situation.
"We want Mamata Banerjee to become chief minister in 2011. We want a Trinamool man to be mayor of Kolkata Corporation. But we are not going to them with a begging bowl. We have extended a hand of friendship but they thought we were begging," said Congress leader Pradip Ghosh.
The Left is watching the situation closely as it would benefit from a split in the alliance that cost it the Lok Sabha polls last year.