Kolkata: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday said her party has kept 53 seats for the Congress for the coming Assembly elections. The Trinamool would contest in 193 out of the 294 seats. Eight seats have been allotted for the smaller constituents of the Trinamool-led Paschim Banga Ganatrantik Front.

Surprised by Ms. Banerjee's announcement, State unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads the National Democratic Alliance (of which the Trinamool is a constituent) Tathagata Roy told The Hindu : " Her announcement is a unilateral one. It has come at a time when seat-sharing talks between her and our leader Arun Jaitley are still on." Ms. Banerjee's decision to set aside seats for the Congress suggests that the leadership of the two parties have been able to reach an agreement to avoid a split in the anti-Left votes even without the Trinamool breaking away from the NDA — a condition laid down by the Congress earlier for any understanding between the two.

The deal between the two parties was clinched during recent talks between Ms. Banerjee and Margaret Alva, AICC general secretary in-charge of West Bengal.

As for her party's electoral understanding with the BJP,Ms. Banerjee said that talks were on for allotting 23 seats to that party.

There is also a possibility of further adjustments with both the Congress and the BJP, she added.

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