Kolkata: The Congress finds Trinamool Congress (TMC) Chief Mamata Banerjee's seat sharing offer unacceptable, sources have said.
Congress sources said, "We will prefer to go it alone if Mamata doesn't give more and winnable seats."
Sources also said that the Congress is ready to contest on all seats in West Bengal if the seat sharing talks fail.
Both parties had reportedly reached an agreement over 68 seats. But the dispute is now over the quality or winnability of the seats.
The Congress wants three more winnable seats, which the TMC does not want to part with.
The seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the TMC for the West Bengal Assembly elections remains inconclusive. With just over a month left before the first round of polling takes place in the state both parties sparring over what they believe are winnable seats.
Senior Congress leader and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee met late on Tuesday evening in Kolkata to finalise the seat-sharing deal.
TMC sources say Mamata may now declare a primary candidate list by Thursday. Mukherjee says the two parties will be meeting again to break the deadlock.
"We have discussed seat sharing and the discussion has been inconclusive. We shall discuss it again," said Mukherjee.
The difference between the two parties seems not only on quantity of seats but also on quality. The TMC is ready to part with 68 seats but the Congress wants 90 seats.
The Congress wants to re-nominate some of its sitting MLA's from key constituencies like Kolkata Port but TMC believes those seats are its strongholds.
Mamata is under pressure from her party workers, who sense that they are on the verge of throwing out the over three-decade rule of the Left Front in the state, to not concede too many seats to her allies.
She is likely to declare her list of candidates by Wednesday or Thursday.
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