We should forget past differences : Cong, CPI(M) leaders

With the clamour for forging an alliance between CPI(M) and Congress for the coming Bengal assembly polls growing louder in the parties' rank and file, senior leaders today said the two should forget the past and work together for better future of West Bengal.
"We should not live in the past. It is time to respect the aspirations of the masses who want to get rid of the misrule of Trinamool Congress," CPI(M) Politburo member Mohammed Salim told a seminar here.
"It is true that we (CPI(M)) had opposed Congress during Emergency. But presently the situation in the state is nothing but unannounced emergency. This is not the time to think about past differences, but to work together towards the common goal of progress of Bengal," he said.

Asked about the present situation on the alliance, Salim said "I am not the high command. I can only say there is a process in our party and it is going through it. But I would like to say that it is CPI(M) which is the champion of coalition politics in post independent India."
State Congress general secretary Om Prakash Mishra echoing Salim said "Yes we had differences during the Left rule. May be we will have differences in future too. But this is not the time to recollect the past. It is time to move forward unitedly as the youth and people of Bengal are looking at us with hope.

"It is time to fight unitedly against this corrupt TMC region," he said at the seminar 'West Bengal Assembly Elections - The Way Forward' organised by Center for Peace and Progress.

TMC leader Sabyasachi Bagchi claimed the proposed CPI(M)-Congress alliance will not be able to fetch any results as people will vote in favour of developmental politics pursued by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
"It is the developmental politics pursued by Mamata Banerjee that will fetch results. Alliance or no alliance, opposition won't be able to win the polls as they do not want to pursue developmental politics," he added.
CPI(M) will hold a two-day state committee meet from February 12 to take a call on electoral tactics, including the alliance with Congress. The final decision on the issue of alliance will be taken by the party's central committee.

Congress leaders from Bengal had unanimously rejected any alliance with TMC but remained divided on a tie-up with the Left in meetings with party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi.