Alleging that the Congress is “providing oxygen to a dying Communist Party of India (Marxist)” by breaking the electoral alliance for the coming civic polls in the State, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said here on Sunday that “there is no alliance in West Bengal.”
“We were in favour of an alliance…but they [the Congress] did not want it,” Ms. Banerjee told journalists. She released a list of Trinamool Congress candidates for all the 141 wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). On Saturday, the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) had announced a list of candidates for 88 wards.
Asked if the break-up in the alliance would favour the Left parties, Ms. Banerjee said the “CPI(M) will have no advantage” since the public wants change. “Even if the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the CPI(M) were to unite, it would not be possible for the CPI(M) to win.”
She also ruled out the possibility of “friendly contests” with the Congress, as there was no such thing in politics.
“Even an inch of land cannot be given to the CPI(M) without a fight,” Ms. Banerjee said, adding that the Trinamool Congress was announcing a comprehensive list as the Congress had not fielded a candidate in several of the 25 seats that had been left for them.
Slamming the Congress for relentlessly attacking the Trinamool Congress, she said the Congress will not be successful in the polls as it had “one foot in the CPI(M) camp and the other elsewhere.”
Stating that the very purpose of constituting her party was to oust the CPI(M), she rubbished the claim that her actions had given an advantage to the rival. “The day I support the CPI(M) will be the day of my political death,” she said.
Even though Ms. Banerjee made no comment on the future of the alliance, WBPCC working president Pradip Bhattacharya said the failure of the seat-sharing talks for civic polls will have no impact on the alliance for future elections.
