Congress says no alliance, CPI-M leader keeps speculation alive

Congress' West Bengal unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday denied his party was acting in unison with the Left despite "battling common foes" though CPI-M leader Gautam Deb, who earlier hinted of an alliance, kept the speculations alive saying they will do whatever it takes to remove the Narendra Modi and the Mamata Banerjee regimes.

Chowdhury told media persons that though the two parties were battling common foes and campaigning on similar issues, there was reason to believe they were acting in unison.

"The issues which we are fighting for may be similar, but that doesn't mean we are doing it in unison. We are doing it in our own way and the CPI-M is also doing on its own. There is no reason to draw an inference that we are doing it together," he said.

Chowdhury said both the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Congress were pitted against the same political foes - the Bharatiya Janata Party at the centre and Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress in the state.

"Both Mamata and Modi are speaking the same language, if Mamata says no to bandhs, so is Modi. If Modi is calling for Congress free India, Mamata wants a Congress free Bengal.

"We (Congress and CPI-M) are not together in the political battle-field, it's just that that the issues we are fighting are identical. We are fighting against the BJP in and outside parliament and Mamata in the state," he added.

Even as he said both the Congress and the Marxists had problems in coming together, Deb said the party will do whatever it takes to remove Banerjee from the helm of the state.

"Congress has problems going with us and we too have problems going alongside them, but when the assembly elections will be knocking at the door, what will happen nobody can say," said Deb, a former state minister.

"The biggest issue before the people of Bengal is to remove this government, who will succeed it, is a secondary. The prime focus is to remove Mamata.

"We will do whatever it takes to remove Modi from centre and Mamata from the state," asserted Deb who earlier had hinted at an "understanding" with the Congress, saying "there was a need for a greater alliance with other like-minded political parties to defeat the Trinamool.

CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury though had ruled out any alliance with the Congress.