Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday held a virtual meeting with West Bengal unit leaders and sought their views on allying with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its left-wing partners for the assembly elections that will be held in about five months. Gandhi also sought reports on the preparation for the party’s elections in the state.
The President of the Bengal Congress, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and senior state leaders participated in the meeting. “Rahul Gandhi asked for our opinion on an alliance against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). We transmit our thoughts to you. That’s all we can say right now, ”Chowdhury told HT on Friday night.
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“The issue of sharing seats with the left will be discussed at a later stage,” he added.
Congress and the Left had contested the assembly polls as allies in 2016, but could not make a dent in the TMC vote bank. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, they did not have an alliance and lost a large chunk of their vote share. While the Congress managed to retain two seats from Lok Sabha, the CPI (M) lost all of them.
Over the past two years, many congressional and leftist legislators have turned to the TMC and the BJP.
Commenting on the resignation of TMC heavyweight leader Suvendu Adhikari on Friday, Chowdhury said: “Whether he will join the BJP is up to him. Glad to see Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee being paid in her own coins. She designed defections in our group over and over again to weaken us. History has a bad habit of repeating itself. ”
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