We have to be open-minded, Mishra says defending alliance

CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra today defended the Congress-Left alliance against criticism of its raison d'etre, saying there were many opinions and "we have to be open-minded".
"We have Hammer and Sickle in our mind. But there are many opinions. There will be debate. We have to be open-minded. We have to listen to other opinions", he told an election meeting in the Jadavpur constituency in the southern fringe of the city.
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in her latest salvo against the alliance, which she dubbed as 'unprincipled', today said it was "fear of her" which drove the two disparate political parties to come together.

The BJP has often criticised the alliance pointing at its "disparateness".
Mishra emphasising the need for strengthening the alliance said, "Do we have to differ on all matters? We all want industry. We want industry, IT, biotechnology."
He said that those who had switched over to BJP were deserting the party and Trinamool Congress was also facing desertion.
Former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would share platform with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi at a joint election meeting tomorrow at Park Circus here.
Banerjee claimed that the Congress and CPI-M would be reduced to "signboards" after the declaration of results.