It is almost final. The Congress is going it alone at the hustings, a senior Bengal Congress leader said on Monday adding the go-ahead to prepare for an ekla chalo battle had been given by none other than the party vice president Rahul Gandhi.
Following Gandhi’s instructions the party was preparing a list of probable candidates for the lok Sabha elections, senior Pradesh Congress Committee members said adding the party would put up candidates for all the 42 seats.
“We are not going for any alliance” the senior leader said adding as per Gandhi’s wishes the party was fielding best and heavy-weight candidates with more chance of winning. “The party will select a large number of candidates from the Youth Congress and women” the leader said.
“We are sure to win all the six seats currently held by the Congress” former PCC president Manas Bhunia said adding “we will poll good number of votes in some other constituencies also. In these seats we may come out winners even.”
The Congress has a strong presence in Murshidabad with three seats, Malda with two seats and North Dinajpur with one seat.
“Though the Trinamool Congress has recently bought over many of our lower-level leaders and elected representatives with its ill-gotten money from the chit fund,” the party still has strong presence in parts of Nadia, Katwa in Burdwan, Birbhum, Jalpaiguri and pockets of Hooghly and Purulia a senior leader said.
The Congress which has of late seen a massive exodus from the party towards the Trinamool Congress recently got a shot in the arm with senior Trinamool leader and MP Somen Mitra resigning from lok Sabha and announcing his willingness to join the Congress.
Mitra a former PCC president is likely to rejoin Congress on Tuesday and is even likely to contest the lok Sabha elections.