Kolkata: The West Bengal Congress on Thursday hailed the decision of CPI(M) seeking cooperation from all democratic forces by stating that every secular parties in the state should respect the aspirations of the masses.
"It is not about what we decide or what CPI(M) decides.The people and the grassroots level workers of CPI(M) and Congress have decided to forge an alliance in order to oust TMC and alienate BJP. So it is our prime duty to respect the aspirations of the masses and workers," state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury told PTI.
When asked when would the Congress high command take a call regarding the alliance, Chowdhury said "We have placed our views and aspirations of the masses before the high command. Now it is for the high command to take a final call." The CPI(M) Central Committee, after its two day meeting in a statement said "In West Bengal, the main task is to restore democracy and foil the aggressive efforts by the communal forces to polarise the people in the state by ousting the present Trinamool Congress government.
"CPI(M) will seek the cooperation of all democratic forces in the state to strengthen people's unity in West Bengal to defeat the Trinamool Congress, isolate the BJP and their machinations," it said.
State Congress general secretary Om Prakash Mishra, who has been pitching for the alliance, welcomed the decision. "We welcome the decision by CPI(M). The alliance of the masses have already in making. The decision by CPI(M) will pave way for seat sharing in West Bengal. We have also requested our high command to take a final call and we hope to hear from them soon," Mishra told PTI. On the other hand, state Congress leader Manas Bhuniya, an advocate of fighting the elections alone, declined to comment on the matter.
CPI(M) central committee member Shyamal Chakraborty, while reacting on the decision by his party's central committee, said "We have called for cooperation of all democratic forces and except BJP and TMC, everybody is welcome to cooperate with us." The Trinamool Congress leadership, however, mocked the call of alliance between CPI(M) and Congress.
"A political alliance happens on the basis of ideology and principles. We are yet to understand what is their ideology and principle? "We have fought panchayat elections in 2013 alone, Lok Sabha elections in 2014 alone, municipal elections in 2015 alone, we didn't face any problem," TMC vice president Mukul Roy said.
