West Bengal Congress disappointed over CPM's decision, says together they could have opposed BJP and TMC

Kolkata: The CPM and the Congress together could have been a strong alternative to the BJP and the TMC, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury said on Monday, a day after the left party decided not to ally with the Rahul Gandhi-led party. He said the split between the Congress and the CPM is the reason behind the growth of the BJP in West Bengal. “The CPM and the Congress together at the national level could have put up a strong alternative to the BJP and its policies at the Centre,” Chowdhury said. [caption id=“attachment_2699530” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress MLA Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary. AFP[/caption] On Sunday, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury’s draft resolution proposing an alliance with the Congress was voted against by the party’s central committee. It was defeated in a voting by the Kerala faction of the party led by Politburo member and former CPM general secretary Prakash Karat which opposed any sort of direct or indirect truck with the Congress. Chowdhury said the division of votes between the Congress and CPM is helping the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. “Since the day the CPM broke the alliance with the Congress, the BJP’s vote share has been increasing. The rise of the BJP in the state is due to the CPM’s inability to hold on to its votes,” he said. Chowdhury said the TMC wants a four-cornered fight in the state for its own benefit. The West Bengal unit of the CPM had forged a tactical alliance with the Congress against the TMC during the 2016 West Bengal Assembly polls. Though the political line worked out by the CPM party congress in 2015 had precluded any understanding or electoral alliance with the Congress in the fight against the BJP, the party had allowed state units to review specific political situation before deciding their own tactical line in consonance with the overall understanding. As a result, the CPM’s West Bengal unit had entered into a tactical alliance with the Congress for the 2016 polls, which proved disastrous as the Left was relegated to the third position in the state. The CPM and the Congress have since been fighting elections separately. The two parties fought separately in the recent bypoll for Sabang Assembly seat and have fielded their respective candidates for Uluberia Lok Sabha bypoll in West Bengal slated for 29 January.