Congress seeks West Bengal revival with Left tieup

The Congress seems to be moving closer to the Left for an alliance in the coming West Bengal Assembly polls with the calculation that this will help its revival despite it being the B-team of the CPI(M).

“The Left has about 30 per cent votes while our vote in West Bengal is about 10 per cent. And this will attract minorities as a stable, credible combination,” viewed a CWC member. He said while the Trinamul Congress’ main objective remained to weaken the Congress and thus grab its entire space, “goonda” elements from the Left joining the Mamata Banerjee-led party is making the electoral battle sharper.

Although the West Bengal unit of the Congress is divided on whether or not to go with the Left, a majority of its leaders prefer the CPI(M)) which is expected to take a formal decision on alliances in the next week.

The West Bengal Congress is fighting the elections not to form a government on its own but to increase its numbers.

The AICC has to take a call on whether to play a political gamble even at the cost of the Kerala Assembly polls, where it is leading the UDF against the LDF.

The Congress is pushing the Trinamul Congress to either the NDA or compelling it to maintain equi-distance from the BJP and the Congress. In fact, the AAP, BJD, TMC, JD(S), YSR Congress Party, Samajwadi Party and BSP can never be friendly with either the BJP or the Congress as both the national parties want to grab their space in Delhi, Orissa, West Bengal, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, respectively. And the Sharad Pawar-led NCP could be their next target in Maharashtra. A division in regional parties could benefit the BJP in the long run, sources said.

Meanwhile, seeking to retain power in the face of a keen BJP challenge in the key north-eastern state of Assam, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will launch the Congress’ poll campaign on Monday. Mr Gandhi will be addressing a public meeting at Jorhat, the constituency represented by Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi. In power for the last 15 years in the state, the Congress is going it alone in the polls. The BJP has projected Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal as its chief ministerial candidate in Assam.

During his two-day visit, Mr Gandhi will address a booth workers’ meeting in Sonitpur district and women workers’ meeting in Lakhimpur district on February 15. He will interact with leaders of the tea garden labourers’ community in Sivasagar.