Alliance with Congress preceded by movement: Left's new strategy ahead of Bengal Polls

In a press conference here on Sunday, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said, "The result of alliance without movement was evident in the 2016 assembly polls. First we want a movement together with Congress."

In the 2016 state polls, the Left and Congress not only fought unsuccessfully but were also decimated as the Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, which stormed back to power even with a bigger majority.

However, the political tune of the state in the last four years has changed dramatically with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerging as an apparent prime challenger to Banerjee's TMC, which is seeking a third straight term.

Though the TMC and BJP have already switched to the poll mood with mass outreach programmes, regular press conferences and social media campaigns, the Left, which was wiped out in the 2019 General Elections, has preferred to take time to finalise the alliance deal with Congress.

Bose on Sunday cleared that all Left parties will discuss the alliance only after Nov 26-27 post-nationwide bandh (strike).

"We Left parties have not discussed among ourselves anything about our alliance with Congress for the polls yet. We will discuss only after Nov 26-27, post-Bharat Bandh," said Bose.

"We don’t think we are late in discussing about alliance," the Left Front chairman said when asked whether it was late in making the poll deal final.

Regarding CPI (ML)'s proposition to target BJP and not TMC in the present situation, Bose said, "CPI (ML) is a different political party. It can have it’s own thinking. But we believe BJP and TMC have an understanding."

"BJP is an openly communal force. But we have noticed that TMC too had done competitive communalism. We can't forget that TMC is responsible for bringing BJP to the state," added Bose.

(Reporting by Souvik Ghosh/IBNS)