Cong will not tie up with CPI(M) in panchayat polls: PCC chief

West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury today ruled out the possibility of an alliance with the CPI(M) in the upcoming panchayat polls and held the Left party responsible for the growth of the BJP in the state.
The panchayat poll later this year in West Bengal will be crucial as it may be seen as an indicator of voting patterns in the next general election of 2019.
"We have clearly said it earlier that we will fight it out alone in the panchayat polls," the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief told reporters here.
When asked why the Congress had decided not to go with the CPI(M) in the state, Chowdhury said it was the Left party which had arbitrarily broken its alliance with the Congress after the 2016 Assembly polls.

Chowdhury shared voting figures in the last few by- elections to claim that the Congress had retained it vote share of 10-12 per cent in the state, whereas the CPI(M) had lost its constituency to the BJP.
"The rise of the BJP in the state is due to the CPI(M)'s inability to hold on to its own votes. Since the day it broke the alliance with the Congress, the BJP's vote share has been increasing," he said.

The CPI(M)'s West Bengal unit had forged an alliance with the Congress during the 2016 Assembly polls in a bid to defeat the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state.

Although the CPI(M) central committee in 2015 had ruled out having any understanding or electoral alliance with the Congress in the fight against the BJP, the party had allowed state units to review specific political situations before deciding on their own "tactical line".
As a result, the party's West Bengal unit had entered into an alliance with the Congress for the 2016 election, which ended up pushing the Left to the third position in the state that it had ruled from 1977 to 2011.
The two parties went separately in the by-poll for the Sabang Assembly seat and have fielded their own candidates for the Uluberia Lok Sabha Parliamentary by-poll fixed for January 29.