Left nod to Congress tieup talks

The CPI(M) on Thursday succeeded in persuading its Left Front partners to reach a consensus on holding alliance discussions for the coming Assembly polls with the Congress. To keep them in good humour, the CPI(M) also accepted the Left constituents’ demand that the Congress should take the initiative and send a proposal for talks.

“If the Congress wishes to hold talks with us on alliance, then should we or should we not agree All 11 Left parties agreed that we should hold discussions with the Congress,” Left Front chairman Biman Bose said after a meeting.

Smaller Left Front constituents, like the CPI, RSP and the Forward Bloc, were initially averse to the idea of any unity with the Congress and had publicly voiced their objection. This was when former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra openly started advocating an alliance with the Congress and asked the party to clarify its stand. However, at the Left Front meeting on Thursday, they were made to toe the CPI(M) line.

Claiming that a “big fight” was ahead, Mr Bhattacharjee on Thursday said that the people of the state wanted the Mamata Banerjee government to be removed.

“Today the demand for an alliance has risen because some people have realised that if this government is not ousted from power, there will be total destruction in the state,” he said while addressing a rally in Barrackpore.

Another CPI(M) leader, Gautam Deb, said that Ms Banerjee was jittery about the prospect of a CPI(M)-Congress alliance.

Meanwhile, Mr Mishra exuded confidence after all the Left parties agreed to discuss the alliance issue with the Congress.

“Eleven Left parties have joined hands on Thursday with us and more will join later. We have to give the people here an alternative to the Trinamul Congress government,” Mr Mishra said.