Left Front chairman Biman Bose announced on Friday that two sitting MPs of the CPM would be fielded again, mounting pressure on the Congress to give up claims to their Lok Sabha seats so that an alliance can be stitched in Bengal.

Bose said Mohammad Salim would be fielded from Raiganj and Badruddoza Khan from Murshidabad. He said a Front meeting had approved the decision earlier in the day.

Asked what the Front would do if the Congress, too, fielded candidates in the two seats, Bose said a conclusive decision would be taken at the next meeting of the Front.

Sources said the announcement was tactical to mount pressure on the state unit of the Congress as the Front also announced that it would not field candidates in four seats — Malda North, Malda South, Behrampore and Jangipur — the Congress had won in 2014.

“Now the ball is in the Bidhan Bhavan’s court. The Congress high command, right up to Rahul Gandhi, is not averse to leaving the two seats for the Left to facilitate the alliance that would stay till the Assembly polls of 2021,” said a source.

Bidhan Bhavan, the Congress headquarters in Bengal, said in a statement later that the decision of the Front was “unfortunate”.

“It is unfortunate that the Left Front has announced two candidates while the discussion on seat adjustment is on. Our national leadership has been in touch with their national leadership,” read the statement.

“It was decided by the leaders of the both the parties to convey the resolution of today’s Left Front meeting to the central leadership. But they have announced candidates unilaterally,” it added.