Congress to field candidates against TMC ally SUCI

Congress today decided to take on Trinamool Congress ally SUCI in two seats at South 24 Parganas for refusing to withdraw nominees against it in 29 other constituencies for the West Bengal assembly elections.

"We have decided to field candidates against SUCI nominees in Joynagar and Kultali that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee left for the SUCI as it has put up candidates against us in 29 other seats," state Congress spokesman Om Prakash Mishra told PTI.

He said that while former MP Manoranjan Haldar would contest from Joynagar, district Congress leader Sujit Patwari would file nomination from the Kultali seat.

The SUCI will contest 31 assembly seats, among them West Midnapore's Sabang and Birbhum's Nalhati.

The Congress leadership is irritated at this as WBPCC chief Manas Bhuniya is seeking re-election from Sabang and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit is making his electoral debut in Nalhati -- a traditional Left bastion.

"The SUCI has fielded candidates against us in 45 per cent of the 65 seats we are contesting. We waited till the last day of withdrawal on April 4 for the first phase of the polling scheduled on April 18," Mishra said.

Asked about SUCI fielding candidates against Congress nominees, Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said here on Sunday that the party did not have an alliance with the SUCI and would speak to the Trinamool Congress.

A state PCC leader pointed out that the Congress had not fielded a candidate in Joynagar in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. SUCI's Tarun Mondal had won the seat then.

"Congress supporters had voted for Mondal because he was a candidate for the Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance," he said.

The SUCI has said that though it has no formal alliance with Trinamool for the assembly polls, for the sake of defeating the CPI-M, it would not put up candidates where Trinamool was contesting.