West Bengal: CPM doesn’t rule out tieup with Congress

Amidst rising speculation of the Left parties and the Congress joining hands after senior leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asked the latter to join hands with the Left to oust the TMC government in West Bengal in the forthcoming Assembly elections, the CPI(M) on Sunday said its electoral line would be decided by its top decision-making bodies at an appropriate time. However, the major Left party has not ruled out the possibility, unlike in the past, which has created a flutter about such a possibility becoming a reality.

“There is a lot of speculation over the tactics that the CPI(M) will employ in the forthcoming elections to the state Assemblies. The CPI(M)’s electoral tactics will be in accordance with the political-tactical line adopted at its 21st party congress,” its politburo said in a statement. “The politb-uro and the central committee will take a decision at an appropriate time regarding electoral tactics in each of these states,” it said.

Virtually kicking off the party’s poll campaign in West Bengal, Mr Bhattacharjee had on Saturday sent out a message to the Congr-ess and other Left parties to join hands with the Left Front to oust the ruling TMC.

The former chief minister, who visited Singur from where the Tata Group had shifted their Nano car project to Gujarat, said, “If the (Nano) factory was set up here, the situation would have changed in Singur. But only darkness prevails. We will change the situation. We can do it. We want Congress to make its stand clear in this regard. We want Congress and other Left parties to join hands with us to oust the TMC government,” he said.

The call follows similar statements by secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra and politburo member Muhammad Salim. With the Left and the Congress jointly under attack from the Trinamul Congress cadres and the BJP posing a major challenge to the twin parties, the coming together of the Left parties and the Congress may blunt the political challenge thrown at them in the crucial polls.