KOLKATA: Congress leader Abdul Mannan wrote to interim party president Sonia Gandhi suggesting the party should support Trinamool Congress on one of the three Assembly seats for by-elections on November 25.Mannan’s suggestion came days after Sonia asked her party leaders in West Bengal to hold joint rallies with the CPM and campaigns against both the Trinamool and the saffron camp.
The by-poll in West Bengal is said to be significant in the wake of BJP’s setback in the just concluded Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. Mannan’s letter to Sonia raised a question on the impact of the Left Front-Congress alliance on ground.
The letter reads, “At his moment our organisational capacity is very poor at Kharagpur due to defection of a large number of party Congress workers and leaders after demise of our veteran MLA (10 times) and leader Shri Gyan Singh Sohanpal. Therefore, in this situation, I would suggest that to prevent BJP we should support TMC candidate at Kharagpur Sadar Assembly seat.’’
When contacted, Mannan said, “I don’t want to discuss the party’s internal matter. I have told everything to Soniaji. Now it is up to her to take the decision.’’Reacting to Mannan’s letter, CPM’s state secretariat member Sujan Chakrabarty said, “‘’It is an internal issue of the Congress We formed an alliance and we are proceeding accordingly.’’