Lower rung in Cong low on alliance hopes
A section of the state Congress, led by Goalpakhar MLA Deepa Dasmunshi, today said it would be suicidal for the party to accept the alliance formula being offered by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, saying her party cannot be allowed to ride piggyback on the Congress. “We are being offered seats that are Left bastions, where the Marxists win by 3-4 lakh votes. Sonia Gandhi has said the aim behind building alliances is to enhance the number of our seats. But if we accept this alliance formula, there is no chance of this,” said Abdul Mannan, a former Congress MLA from Champadani in Hooghly district. Another leader, Shankar Singh, said if the Trinamool’s formula was accepted, the party would face a debacle of the kind it suffered in the 2001 Assembly polls.