The Left Front and the Congress on Thursday resolved differences regarding their seat-sharing deal for the February 16 Assembly polls in Tripura.

The development assumes significance because it is the first time the two political rivals will be fighting the polls together with the common objective of “restoring democracy and order” in Tripura by ousting the ruling BJP, which has been running the state with its ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) since 2018.

According to the seat-sharing deal announced by the Left Front on January 25, the Left would contest 46 out of the 60 Assembly seats and support an Independent, while the Congress would fight in the remaining 13.

However, the deal ran into hiccups after the Congress fielded candidates for 17 seats on January 28. The Left Front fielded candidates in 59 seats on January 30, leaving one for the Independent candidate whom they supported.

Left Front convener Narayan Kar, state CPM secretary Jitendra Chaudhury and AICC in-charge Ajoy Kumar told The Telegraph in separate interactions that all issues related to the seat-sharing deal have been sorted out and they will be meeting on Friday to finalise the campaign and other issues.

While the Left Front withdrew their candidates from 13 constituencies, the Congress withdrew four candidates after hectic backroom discussions between the two sides.

Sources said the delay in sorting out the deal was because of differences over the deal within the state Congress.

Going solo was not an option for both the Congress and the Left against the BJP, which is known for its electoral prowess, they said. In 2018, the BJP-IPFT combine won 44 seats to oust the ruling Left, which could manage only 16 seats, while the Congress drew a blank.

The sources said the seat-sharing issue was eventually resolved with the AICC in-charge Ajoy Kumar “prevailing” over the state leaders to “respect” the deal to achieve the “greater objective” of defeating the BJP.

Kumar told The Telegraph the seat-sharing deal is intact and he will be having dinner with Chaudhury on February 4 and will also campaign for him.

“We all want to make this work. We will fight the polls together,” Kumar said.

Chaudhury said he will be meeting the Congress leaders on Friday to finalise the way ahead, adding the BJP can “start counting its days”.

Chaudhury had said on Monday that he was hopeful about the deal remaining intact because there was time for discussion till Thursday, the last day of withdrawal of nomination.

Left Front convener Kar “thanked” the BJP for “bringing” the two sides together.

“We will now finalise our campaign strategy and then meet the Congress leadership. We will be inviting our central leaders as well as leaders from Bengal to campaign,” Kar said.