On Thursday, Congress formally announced its alliance with left-wing parties for the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal.
West Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury tweeted the announcement.
“Today the high command of Congress has formally approved the electoral alliance with the left parties in the imminent election of West Bengal,” he tweeted.
West Bengal, along with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, will go to the polls in March-April next year.
The central committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) approved in October the decision of the West Bengal unit to have an electoral understanding with all secular parties, including Congress, in the next assembly elections.
The CPI (M) political bureau had given its approval to the measure, but had left the final decision to the central committee.
In the 2016 elections, the central committee of the CPI (M) had rejected the decision of the West Bengal unit to have a tactical agreement to share seats with Congress. In subsequent elections, Congress won 44 seats and the Left Front ended with just 32.
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