LF partners ask CPI(M) to go slow on forming alliance with Congress

Two constituents of the Left Front on Friday asked CPI(M) to go slow on forming an alliance with Congress in the upcoming assembly election as the Congress high command “is yet to show any positive interest” in such a grouping.

“We had wanted that there should be an alliance of all the secular forces, which comprises Congress too. The CPI(M) being the major partner of the Front took the initiative and had openly advocated in favour of the alliance. But the Congress high command is yet to show any positive interest,” RSP state secretary Khsiti Goswami said.

“So we feel that rather than waiting for Congress, we should strive to make ourselves much stronger,” Goswami said. Another Left Front constituent, CPI too stressed that the Front should harp on increasing its own strength rather than dwelling on talks about whether to go for an alliance or not.

“We feel that only Left Front is the alternative to the misrule of TMC,” CPI state secretary Prabodh Panda said.

The call of allies to go slow on alliance came days after CPI(M) politburo member Mohammed Salim had asked the Congress to make its stand clear on the issue of alliance.

Amid talks of a possible tie-up between Congress and CPI(M), AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi has called the state Congress leadership to Delhi for a meeting on February 1.

Ex-CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra had called upon Congress from public meetings to join hands with the Left Front to oust the TMC in the next assembly polls.