West Bengal Congress against tie-up with Trinamool

The Bengal unit of the Congress wants no alliance with the ruling Trinamool Congress for the Assembly polls, due by April, but is divided on a coalition with the Left Front.

The leaders of the Bengal Congress on Monday met Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and conveyed to him that they were unanimous that the party shouldn't have any alliance with the Trinamool Congress.

At the interaction, Manas Bhunia and Deepa Dasmunshi opposed the idea of the Congress aligning with the Left Front for the upcoming polls. State Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was the most vociferous in arguing for a Left Front-Congress tie up. Chowdhury claimed that people at large wanted a Congress-Left Front alliance.

Gandhi told the leaders that party President Sonia Gandhi would take a decision. He suggested that the Congress could be a "determining factor" in the West Bengal polls. Any decision the Congress takes will have a bearing on its strategy for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Those arguing for a Congress-Left Front alliance are convinced that a multi-polar contest would help Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sweep the polls. But Bengal will go to polls alongside Kerala and three other states. The Congress-led United Democratic Front and the Left Democratic Front are main rivals in Kerala. Some in the Congress have pointed out that Congress-Left alliance in Bengal would be difficult to explain for both in Kerala and could strengthen the BJP in the southern state.