Congress sends feelers to Trinamool dissidents

Ruling out any alliance with the Trinamool Congress in the coming general elections, the Congress Thursday indicated it was prepared to welcome Trinamool Congress dissidents into its fold.

The incident assumes significance in the wake of the rebellion by a group of dissident Trinamool MPs against the party leadership last week.

"Our motto is very clear. Whosoever wants to come to Congress, believes in the ideology of the Congress and those who want to end the misrule of the Trinamool, are welcome," said party secretary Shakeel Ahmed Khan.

Asked whether the party has plans to tie up with the Trinamool for the Lok Sabha elections, he said: "There is no scope of an alliance. We have had troubles over the alliance with them."

The Trinamool and the congress had formed an alliance in the 2009 Lok Sabha and 2011 West Bengal assembly polls, but they broke off last September when the Trinamool walked out over the central government's decisions to hike diesel prices and allow FDI in retail.

The Trinamool leadership has announced it would slap show cause notices on Lok Sabha members Kunal Ghosh, Tapas Pal and Satabdi Roy for their anti-party comments at a programme last Friday.

Trinamool MP Somen Mitra, who has been sidelined in the party, is said to be the rallying point for the dissidents.