CPI(M) leader hints at alliance, Congress dismisses

Fuelling speculation of coming together of the Left and the Congress, senior CPI(M) leader Gautam Deb today said both parties were fighting on the same issues against their common political enemy the ruling Trinamool Congress.
"Both of us are fighting against the common political opponent and we are fighting on the same issues. As we have a common opponent, our issues are also same," Deb told reporters at a district party office in North 24-Paraganas, which political watchers were quick to interpret as a subtle hint of alliance with the Congress.
The state Congress, however, ruled out any possibility of alliance with the Left in the state.

Asked if there was a possibility of the two parties coming together in the near future, Deb, a CPI-M central committee member, said, "I can't comment on it. It is for the party's central committee to decide. But you can never say what happens during elections on the electoral battle field." Deb went on to say, "Our fight is against the BJP at the Centre and against the TMC in the state. We need to unite the democratic and secular forces in order to oust the TMC."
Deb, earlier too had advocated an alliance with the Congress to oust the TMC from power in Bengal. But the party leadership then had distanced himself from Deb's comment and Deb too had claimed that he had been misquoted.

State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury scotched any possibility of alliance and said that the issues between the Left and the Congress might be the same but their ways of political movement were different.

"They are fighting on their own and we are fighting on our own. When we called Bengal Bandh a few days back the Left did not support us, neither did they oppose us," Chowdhury pointed out.
Chowdhury said that the Congress was fighting against the policies of the BJP at the Centre and against the TMC at the state level.
"The people of the state are now aware of the tacit understanding between the TMC and the BJP as both the parties are speaking the same language," Chowdhury said.

Several senior Congress leaders like Abdul Manan had in the past openly advocated an alliance between the Congress and the Left in the state to oust the TMC.