In West Bengal, the chief minister's post has become a major hurdle in the grand alliance being formed between the Congress and the Left Front. Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha, proposed to present himself as a contender for the post of Chief Minister on behalf of the Grand Alliance, which is not acceptable to the Left Front.
In the last election too, there was a mahagotha or grand alliance between the Congress and the Left Front. Out of 294 assembly seats in the state, Congress had contested only 92 seats while CPM had won only 26 seats. The remaining 55 seats were divided between the Forward Bloc, RSP, and CPI.
However, he managed to win only 6 of these seats. Due to the better strike rate in the last election, the Congress is not only contesting more seats this time but it has also rejected the claim for the post of Chief Minister. But the CPM, which ruled West Bengal for 34 consecutive years, does not accept this. A member of the CPM Central Committee said that it would be too early to comment on it right now.