Ranaghat: Left allies demand change of nominee, threat will not take part in polls

KOLKATA: In another jolt to the grand alliance, SFI and DYFI functionaries in Nadia have threatened of not participating in the election if Congress is allowed to field its candidate from Ranaghat (North West).

But, the attitude of the young party workers has not gone down well with the old guards.

The CPI (M) has fielded more than 20 young candidates of which at least 8 are fresh faces from the university.

The Left Front has kept 15 seats reserved for Congress, including Ranaghat North East.

The SFI and DFI leaders have sent a letter to CPI (M) headquarters at Alimuddin Street about their decision.

The disgruntled leaders, who are leading from the front, include Jyoti Pal, SFI Secretary and Subhankar Basu, SFI president and Debashis Mukherjee DYFI Secretary and Subhas Roy DYFI president.

The resentment in the party against Congress is brewing up. Young party workers maintained that without Congress the party would have done better in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

They said it was difficult for a staunch CPI (M) supporter to vote for Congress candidates and vice-versa.

It may be mentioned that after 2016 Assembly elections, the CPI (M) Politburo had issued a statement which stated that the alliance with Congress was "not in consonance with the decision of the Central committee of the party."

However, both the CPI (M) and Congress leaders decided to hold each other's hand for survival. The Congress is yet to publish its list.