Desperate times? Sonia asks West Bengal Congress to campaign with the Left, laments BJP’s rise in the state

Sonia Gandhi has asked the leaders of West Bengal Congress to plan joint movements with the Left front, to challenge the ruling TMC and emerging BJP in the state. As per reports, WB Congress leader Abdul Mannan had met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi twice on Thursday to discuss the political situation in the state.

Abdul Mannan is the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly.

Following the meeting, Mannan has informed media that Sonia has given her nod for a Congress-Left Front alliance in West Bengal considering that the party is losing ground with the ruling TMC and the emerging BJP.

“We discussed the political situation with Sonia Gandhiji and she has asked us to conduct joint movements with the Left Front in order to build a public opinion about the proposed LF-Congress alliance in the state. She asked us to conduct joint movements with Left Front against Trinamool Congress and BJP in the state,” said WB Congress leader Abdul Mannan.

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Mannan also reportedly informed that Sonia was of the opinion that had the Congress-Left alliance been intact after the 2016 assembly elections, the political situation in Bengal could have been different and BJP would have never gained ground in the state.

It is notable here that Sonia had reportedly given her nod for the Congress-Left alliance in the upcoming assembly by-elections in WB back in August. There will be by-elections for 3 assembly seats in Kaliaganj, Kharagpur and Karimganj seats located in 3 different districts in the state soon.

While the Congress will field candidates in the Kaliaganj and Kharagpur seats, the CPI(M) will contest the Karimpur seat.

Read: Mamata Banerjee reaches out to Congress and CPI(M) seeking support in her fight against BJP in Bengal, rebuffed

In the 2016 assembly elections, Congress and the CPI(M) had come together but had managed only 44 and 26 seats respectively. The TMC had a clear majority with 211 seats out of the 294.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, both Congress and CPI(M) had faced a near route. While Congress managed to win 2 seats and lost deposits in 38 seats, the CPI(M) had failed to win even a single seat and had lost deposits in all the 39 seats where it had contested.