The discreet announcement of the alliance – will seek to consolidate anti-TMC, anti-BJP votes – arises from the political contradiction that Congress and the left are the main rivals in Kerala, which goes to the polls together with Bengal. Any exaggeration on the subject could be a red flag for the Kerala units of the two parties, especially CPM.
Congress and the left had jointly contested Bengal’s 2016 assembly polls before the latter forced a breakout.
The PCC chairman and MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury took to Twitter to announce the union in Bengal, which was expected as the two parties had been running joint programs in the state for some time. Local congressional officials had discussed the need to formalize the alliance during a virtual interaction with Rahul Gandhi and AICC state head Jitin Prasada last month.
With the BJP looking to take advantage of its Lok Sabha winnings and go for the jugular this time, opposition from the non-BJP state appears to have lagged behind. Congress has been blaming the top brass on the left for the failure of the so-called secular opposition to prevent Trinamool from taking over its turf and sitting down when the BJP entered the fray to try to wrest that space from Mamata’s party.
With a BJP of national descent making his case in the 2019 LS polls, a large chunk of left-wing voters moved into the saffron field, sparking a tectonic shift in state politics.
Now, it seems like a Herculean task for the Congress-Left combination to make a big difference. But congressional leaders argue that a smart distribution of seats and an effective localized campaign can produce good results.
By the looks of it, the Congress-Left alliance would expect a hung House, where its count may deny the BJP and TMC a chance for power.
AICC state official Jitin Prasada said: “Congress will fight with all its might to protect the culture and heritage of Bengal, which is threatened by the divisive policies of the BJP and the political violence of TMC.”
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