Congress, Trinamool Congress rule out alliance in near future

Though the recent by-poll results proved that the Left Front stands to gain whenever there is a division of anti-Left votes, Congress and Trinamool Congress are not ready to enter into an alliance all over again, at least not in the immediate future.

The Left Front wrested the Nalhati constituency in the by-poll from the Congress, which had won the seat in the 2011 Assembly election, when it had an alliance with the TMC.

Likewise, the victory of the Congress and the TMC in English Bazar and Rejinagar constituencies respectively, showed that their victory margins could have been much higher if they had fought unitedly.

However, state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya didn't seem too bothered when his reaction was sought.

"Why should we forge an alliance with the Trinamool? It is they who had back-stabbed us. They won the Assembly polls with our support but after winning, they showed their true colours and betrayed us. I don't think there is any possibility of forging an alliance in near future," Bhattacharya told PTI.

Trinamool Congress general secretary Mukul Roy's also reacted strontly.

"We don't want any alliance with an anti-people party like the Congress. That is why we broke away from the UPA protesting against anti-people policies. The by-poll results have shown that we are growing in north Bengal and we don't want to stop that by forging an alliance with the Congress," he told PTI.

The Congress and the TMC had formed an alliance during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and 2011 Assembly polls. The political impact of the alliance was clearly visible as the combined anti-Left votes led to the rout of the 34-year-old Left regime from the state.

However, ties between the two parties were not a smooth affair with the two constantly exchanging barbs over different issues, finally leading to the parting of ways on September 18, 2012, when the TMC broke away from the Congress-led UPA over the decision to allow FDI in retail.

Senior Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed said, "They should understand that they have come to power in Bengal only because the votes of Congress went to the alliance. Without the support of Congress, they couldn't have formed the government."

Although, Ahmed agreed that division of anti-left votes had helped the Left in the state, he felt that the Congress will not repeat the mistake of forging an alliance with the Trinamool.

"The results have also shown that all parties are getting votes. We don't see any scope of forging an alliance with the Trinamool in near future," Ahmed added.