Vote for Congress where it’s the only alternative to BJP: CPM state secy to party workers

Shifting his focus to West Bengal, Mishra said there was a need to unite the opposition votes against TMC and BJP.

“Here our fight is against both TMC and BJP and we have to unite the opposition votes…For that there is a need to extend our support to the Congress,” the CPM state secretary said.

The state CPM leadership has always been vocal about forging an electoral alliance with the Congress in West Bengal. In the 2016 Assembly polls, both parties had entered into an “electoral understanding”.

However, since then, both parties contested the Assembly and Lok Sabha bypolls in the state separately. Despite this, leaders of both parties such as Abdul Mannan and Sujan Chakraborty have been seen staging joint protest movements against the TMC government.

The Congress leadership under former state president Adhir Chowdhury too had openly advocated for an electoral alliance with the CPM in future polls. Following the removal of Chowdhury as state Congress president, the state party leadership maintained its distance from the CPM.

“In the 2016 Assembly polls in Bengal, we had taken a decision to enter into an electoral understanding with the CPM after intimating our party high command. Following the declaration of Assembly poll results, the CPM decided to sever all ties with our party. Now if they think that there is a need to support our party for the benefit of the country, we will welcome their decision and will share the same with our party high command,” said state Congress president Somen Mitra.