Once bitten twice shy the Congress leaders from West Bengal are “doubly reluctant” to strike an electoral alliance with former partners Trinamool Congress in 2014.
Though the State leaders have “left it on the national leadership” the Pradesh Congress feels the party would “fare better if we go alone in the elections.” Dwelling on the issue senior party leader and junior Minister for Railways Adhir Chowdhury on Sunday said, “Though he had no say on how the national leadership would deal with the issue of alliance. I would not spare any seat from Murshidabad to any one,” adding he would ensure that the Congress won all the three seats from the district.
Chowdhury is the party MP from Murshidabad where the Congress retained all the three seats even during the left regime. Recently though the Trinamool had managed to dent some parts of Malda yet another Congress stronghold fathered by late party patriarch ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury it had failed to do so in Murshidabad.
The border district dominated by about 70 minority voters had of late witnessed sporadic clashes between the Trinamool and the Congress. Addressing the issue, Congress MP and PCC president, Pradip Bhattacharya said “The Congress will fare better if we go it alone” adding quickly however that the question of alliance will depend on the AICC.”
Critical of “continuous attempt by the Trinamool Congress to engineer defection in the Congress ranks” Bhattacharya alleged “there is a lot of money and muscle power being used by the ruling outfit to purchase and coerce our workers and even elected representatives to join theirranks.”
Notwithstanding the Congress would “give them a befitting reply in theelections should we are allowed to go it alone.” Challenging the Trinamool to win elections without the help of the Congress he said “regardless of the defections they are engineering in our party and regardless of the attacks they have been mounting on us we will contest from all the 42 seats and see how they repeat the performance of 2009 in lok Sabha elections.”
Another senior leader and former PCC president Manas Bhunia said though things would depend on the AICC “we from Bengal would request our national leadership to allow us to go it alone in the State so that we can stand on our own feat.” Meanwhile, with the general elections inching nearer number of political clashes grew even as alleged Trinamool workers attacked the Marxists injuring about a dozen people in Kolkata and Hooghly.
In the first incident about four persons were injured when Trinamool men attacked a procession led by State CPI(M) secretary Biman Bose. While the police stood a mute spectator the lF chairman escaped the attack narrowly. In the second attack buses carrying left supporters were attacked by alleged Trinamool men at Chinsurah in Hooghly when they were returning from a meeting of former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. About 10 people were injured.
Upping the ante against the Trinamool Government Bhattacharjee said the State had lagged behind in the past two years in every field: from industry to agriculture to employment generation. “We are going up only in crime against women, hoodlumism, political attacks” he said.