Ruling out any alliance with the Congress, Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra said here on Tuesday that the issue did not come up for discussion during the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s State committee meeting.
Reacting to recent comments made by central CPI (M) committee leader Gautam Deb, who hinted at a possible alliance with the Congress in Bengal to dislodge the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) at the 2016 State Assembly polls, Dr. Mishra said: “There is no question of an alliance with the Congress. There is nothing new in this. This decision was taken unanimously by all our party leaders at the State committee meeting. In fact, we had no discussion related to election preparedness during the committee meeting, we drew up plans of our agitations and protest movements which will be held across the State till September 2. The State government needs a change and protest movements can help bring about this change.”
Mr Mishra’s comment came after two days of meeting of the State committee members.
Mr. Deb, who kicked up a political storm by hinting at the alliance, has reportedly written a letter to the State CPI-(M) leadership stating that his statements were misinterpreted and he was misquoted by the media. Acknowledging Mr. Deb’s letter, Dr. Mishra said Mr. Deb had sought to clear the air before his comments created controversy.
“He [Mr. Deb] wrote the letter anticipating that he would be misinterpreted…No one has sought any explanation from him,” Dr. Mishra said.
Stating that the TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre had a “mutual understanding”, he said both the parties had agreed to stay mum on the rampant corruption within both the parties.
“The BJP had promised to bring back black money as soon as it is voted to power. But now they are silent on the involvement of the TMC in the Sarada scam. Both the TMC and the BJP have decided not to talk about corruption,” Dr. Mishra said.
Announcing agitations and protest movements on several issues across the State till September, Dr. Mishra said the Left has called for a State-wide strike on September 2.
Protest movements planned for Sept. 2
Statements misinterpreted, misquoted: Gautam Deb
