left Front trashes hope for ties with Cong in Bengal

In what could allow the ruling Trinamool Congress to heave a sigh of relief, the left Front on Monday ruled out any possibility of an alliance with the Congress.CPI(M)  general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that it would not go against the decision taken at the party congress this year whence it was decided that there would be no alliance with the Congress. This, regardless of the fact that the party would continue to have issue-based political understandings with that party in Parliament.

Yechury’s words not only ensure a victory for the Kerala lobby which was against forming any alliance with the Congress party but also it sets at rest the media speculations in Bengal after central committee member and senior leader Gautam Deb publicly referred to the idea of all secular democratic forces coming together “to beat away a fascist jungle raaj of Trinamool Congress as it is not possible for any single group to defeat Trinamool at present.”

According to 2014 general election results the Trinamool got 39 percent votes while the left secured 29 percent. The Congress got a little more than 9 percent votes while the BJP polled 16 per cent.

Yechury who was attending a two-day State conference said “Gautam Deb’s statement has been read beyond its context and he has not said anything about forming an alliance with the Congress party. The CPI(M) will stick to its decision taken in the party congress.”Curiously a host of Bengal leaders including central committee member Shyamal Chakrbarty had also expressed their opinion in support of Deb. Though none of the State leaders would speak out in open the shooting down of Deb’s idea by the central leadership was promptly interpreted as a victory for the party’s Kerala lobby which was against any understanding with the Congress.