The West Bengal unit of the Congress on Monday rejected veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu’s appeal to its party supporters and sympathisers to vote for the Left Front candidates in the upcoming by-polls for 10 seats, saying it was a desperate and absurd move by the Left to keep afloat.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president Pradip Bhattacharjee told The Indian Express over the phone: “The CPM’s political bankruptcy has become so acute that they had to utilise a respectable leader like Jyoti Basu to make such a statement.”

“It is impossible for the Congress supporters to vote for the Left Front candidates and our workers in all the blocks in West Bengal have understood clearly the CPM’s heinous move to divide the votes against them by exploiting a respectable leader like Basu,” Bhattacharjee added.

In a surprise move just days ahead of the November 7 by-polls, Basu on Sunday appealed to Congress voters to support the Left candidates, accusing the Trinamool Congress of unleashing violence together with the Maoists. This is the first time that the CPM had directly appealed to Congress supporters to vote for the Left.

“We gave unconditional support to Congress to counter communalism and save the country. Now, when the state is facing a severe crisis, I would ask Congress supporters to back Left Front candidates for peace, order and development,” the 97-year-old former chief minister had said.

Asked whether the state Congress will issue any direction for their workers not to vote for the CPM and Left Front in the light of Basu’s appeal, Bhattacharjee said, “There is no need. They understand the CPM’s gameplan.”

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