Salim meets Kabir, slammed for losing ‘secular face’ even as CPM neta denies poll ties talk
Times of India | 30 January 2026
Kolkata: Seemingly on overdrive to finalise its allies ahead of the 2026 assembly polls in Bengal, CPM has reached out to Humayun Kabir's newly formed Janata Unnayan Party.
CPM state secretary Md Salim, critical of Kabir's ‘Babri Masjid' plans even a month ago, met the Bharatpur MLA on Wednesday at a New Town hotel. CPM is already in talks with ISF's Nawsad Siddique, who, sources said, has sought 70 seats this time. Left Front is also in talks with CPI (ML) (Liberation).
Immediately after the meeting, Kabir told reporters, "I urged Salim saheb to ensure that the process of alliance formation is finalised by Feb 15. The meeting was meaningful. Issues pertaining to assembly polls were discussed at length. We won't bring in our ego while talking to parties opposing TMC."
Sources said the discussions were held over seats in Murshidabad, North Dinajpur and North 24 Parganas. Kabir said there was a possibility of his party talking to AIMIM regarding an alliance. Sources also said that Kabir had toned down his ‘Babri' narrative after he was warned over CPM's strong stance against it.
Salim, however, said after the one-hour-long meeting with Kabir: "There was no alliance discussion. We wanted to know his plans... certain things can be understood only after a face-to-face interaction. There are proposals for seat sharing. We will first discuss that among Left Front partners."
Saying that CPM's attempts at "courting Kabir" wouldn't go down well with Left workers, Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: "The party used to talk about ideologies and fighting back. Unfortunately, Md Salim chose to be a Humayunbaadi. We are least bothered about the meeting. CPM is reaching out to everyone, including Congress and ISF, clearly showing that it can't field candidates in 294 seats."
State Congress neta Roahan Mitra posted on Facebook: "Are you so desperate to be an MLA that you have to hold a meeting with a bankrupt politician who talks about throwing Hindu corpses into the Bhagirathi? The issue is an alliance and seat adjustment. Was the term ‘secularism' removed from politics in Bengal?"
BJP's Tarunjyoti Tiwari said the meeting had damaged the "secular face" CPM had projected.