The Congress has announced that its alliance with the Trinamool will continue even after the Lok Sabha polls.

“We had an alliance with the Trinamool in 2001. But that did not last long. However, the present alliance is stable and is for a long- term,” said AICC spokesperson Ashwini Kumar at a press conference in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Kumar, also Union Minister of State for Industries, said the alliance would help unite the anti-Left votes in Bengal. “In Bengal, people are against the Left. Our alliance will prevent the division of anti-Left votes. We are confident that we will get more seats than the CPM,” he added. Asked about dissatisfaction within the party regarding the alliance, Kumar said he had discussed the issue with WBPCC president Pranab Mukherjee and state leaders. “A section of state Congress leaders consider that the party should have contested more seats in West Bengal. But the alliance was the need of the hour and was formed keeping in mind larger objectives,” Kumar said.

Under the seat-sharing agreement, the Trinamool will contest 27 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, leaving one to its ally the Socialist Unity Centre of India. Congress will field candidates in the remaining 14 seats. The Congress, however, is yet to announce its candidates for Darjeeling, Murshidabad and Malda North seats. A meeting to this effect was held at the residence of K Keshav Rao, AICC in-charge of west Bengal, in Delhi on Wednesday but it remained inconclusive.

... contd.