The Congress could do little as Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee announced her party candidates unilaterally on Friday, leaving just 64 seats for the bigger party, and making their alliance in West Bengal a fait accompli.

Congress cheif Sonia Gandhi's instructions to party negotiator Pranab Mukherjee was to go for an alliance come what may, even if the party does not get a respectable number of seats in bargain.

Hence, the Congress has swallowed the insult and it is now persuading the railway minister to at least give it two seats of Kolkata Port and Garden Reach that had elected the Congress MLAs last time, party sources said.

However, if she sticks to her resolve not to yield a single seat to the Congress in Kolkata, the Congress will press for giving it at least two more seats anywhere else, the sources said.

They said Mukherjee had agreed in principle to the seat share but requested Banerjee to delay the announcement of candidates until Sonia Gandhi's return from London where she had gone to deliver the Commonwealth lecture. Mukherjee realised trouble was brewing as at least two party MPs, both Muslims, were threatening to field rebel candidates if Banerjee remained adamant in not giving the seats of their choice.

It is to be seen now if Sonia Gandhi is able to prevail upon the party MPs from Malda and Murshidabad not to field rebels, though the Trinamul chief smells more such rebels from the Congress camp jumping in the fray that she has told her partymen to take in their stride for not agreeing for some give and take on certain seats.

The Congress was also pushing for a share in power in case the alliance wins the majority but that too was shrugged off by Banerjee and yet the Congress leaders involved in the negotiations expect that she will have to fall for a coalition government as they do not expect her Trinamul to get a clear majority on her own.