Soon after Election Commission announcing 25 November to be the date of bypolls at Kaliagunj, Kharagpur and Karimpur, PCC chief Somen Mitra has urged Left Front chairman, Biman Bose to take expeditious steps to build a viable alternative of Congress and Left Front against the Trinamul Congress and BJP’s “divisive and undemocratic” ideology in rural and urban areas.
Laying all his cards on the table, the veteran Congress have sought that the alliance in the state be based on the Congress- NCP model of understanding which gave the BJPShiv Sena combine in Maharashtra a run for its money. Urging the front chairman to make up his mind quickly, the PCC chief pointed out that the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi in consultation with most of the state leaders had a given a goahead for an alliance with the Left.
Had the alliance or electoral understanding materialised, the major portion of votes of Trinamul Congress would not have shifted to BJP, Mitra pointed out. Targeting lack of sympathy to be the principal cause of the two political outfits not being able to close ranks, Mitra said that Congress- NCP combine in Maharashtra had made its presence felt after waging an unequal electoral battle against BJPSena combine. Earning the people’s trust had been the basis of Congrerss- NCP combine’s success, he believes.
The Congress leader called upon the front chairman to build the proposed Congress- Left alliance based on people’s trust. Having received a proposal of cooperation from Forward Bloc, the Congress has made it clear that it has no reservations on any score, PCC chief said. Let the campaign against “torture, divisiveness and lack of democracy” be rolled out, he said.