CPM-BJP join hands; saffron party calls it ‘isolated incident’

Kolkata: Arch-rivals BJP and CPI(M) have joined hands at the grassroot level in Nadia district to defeat the Trinamul Congress in the upcoming panchayat polls in West Bengal.

Maintaining that it was not a “formal seat sharing adjustment”, a district-level CPI(M) leader said that the party had to opt for seat adjustment in many seats as several villagers wanted a one-to-one fight against the TMC.

The CPI(M), with an opposite ideology to that of the BJP, never loses an opportunity to describe the saffron party as a “divisive force”.

The BJP’s north Nadia district unit president termed the development as an “isolated incident”.

The bonhomie first came to light in the last week of April when both the parties organised a joint protest rally in Karimpur-Ranaghat area of Nadia district against the alleged violence of the TMC during the panchayat poll process.

Cadre of both parties carried their respective flags during the protest programme.

CPI(M) Nadia district secretary and state committee member Sumit De agreed that there have been adjustments at the grassroot level in many seats as several villagers were in favour of a one-to-one fight. It has nothing to do with the party’s policy, he added. “Yes, there have been adjustments at the grassroot level. In many seats as the villagers had wanted one-to-one fight, we had to respect it and act accordingly. But it is not that there have been several rounds of discussions between parties and it is a formal seat sharing adjustment,” De told PTI.

Senior CPI(M) leader and state committee member Rama Biswas, who was present at the joint rally of the BJP and CPI(M), said that a rally had been taken out by villagers against the violence of the TMC.

West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh too admitted that supporters of the BJP and the CPI(M) were present at the rally. “I have received information that we had called a rally against the violence of the TMC. CPI(M) workers also came and joined our protest rally as they too were attacked,” Mr Ghosh told PTI.

A senior state BJP leader who did not wish to be named, said in areas where the BJP could not field a candidate “it has given enough hints to the voters and party cadres to counter the TMC which has unleashed violence”.