The Congress will work to strengthen its electoral alliance with the Trinamool Congress in its bid to oust the Left Front from power in the State, Manas Bhunia, the new president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) said on Tuesday.
“The work ahead will be to strengthen the Congress as well as to strengthen Congress-Trinamool Congress unity. Both of these are of great importance,” Dr. Bhunia said at his first interaction with journalists here after formally taking over charge as the WBPCC chief.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee stepped down from the post because of his responsibilities at the Centre..
“Any assessment of the political situation indicates that neither the Congress nor the Trinamool Congress can, on its own, ensure the defeat of the CPI(M)-led Left Front. Whenever there has been a division in the anti-Left vote, things have gone to the advantage of the Left Front. In polls where the two parties have been united the Left Front has got a drubbing as was the case in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls,” he said.
“Enough is enough. The CPI(M)-led Left Front that has been in power for the past 33 years will have to go and the Congress and the Trinamool Congress will be together in their fight against it,” Dr. Bhunia said. The crucial Assembly polls are due next year.
Dr. Bhunia said he was taking over as WBPCC president at times “that are both difficult and challenging.” He vowed to induct students, youth, women and minorities into the party in a bigger way.
“The Congress will be under a collective leadership and it will prove that even after 126 years of its existence it is not finished in West Bengal. An election defeat [referring to his party's poor showing in the May 30 civic polls] does not mean the end of a political party,” Dr. Bhunia said.
On Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee sparing the Congress in his recent tirades against the Trinamool Congress for “instigating lawlessness” in the State, he said that while “the Congress never believes in violence, neither does Mamata Banerjee who has emerged as a leader through democratic struggles.”