CPI(M) takes umbrage at Saugata Roy's anti-BJP front offer, assails TMC on divisiveness

On Thursday, CPI(M) hit back at the ruling TMC for its appeal to the Left Front and Congress to back West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in the fight against BJP. Addressing a press conference a day earlier, MP Saugata Roy contended that TMC is the only party that is fighting against BJP's purported communal politics. Speaking to the media, CPI(M) politburo member Mohammed Salim alleged that TMC's alleged misgovernance and divisive tactics have paved the way for the rise of BJP in West Bengal. 

According to him, BJP and TMC were dividing people on the basis of religion and language respectively. Moreover, the ex-Raiganj parliamentarian alleged hypocrisy on part of Saugata Roy to now approach CPI(M) for an electoral understanding. Moreover, Salim opined that TMC is seeking their help as its "corrupt faces" cannot pose a challenge to the JP Nadda-led party. 

On Wednesday, TMC MP Saugata Roy remarked, "If the Left Front and the Congress are genuine anti-BJP forces, they should line up behind Trinamool Congress, because Mamata Banerjee's party is the only party fighting against the communal and divisive politics of the saffron party. Mamata Banerjee is the real face of secularism."

Read: In West Bengal, BJP Claims 41 TMC MLAs Ready To Jump Ship; 'can Bring Down Mamata Govt'

Congress-CPI(M) tie-up

On December 24, 2020, WB Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury announced that his party's high command had given the green signal for its alliance with the Left parties for the West Bengal Assembly polls due in April-May this year. Incidentally, the CPI(M)'s central committee had approved the alliance in October itself. In 2016 WB Assembly polls also, Congress and CPI(M) had stitched an alliance to take on the might of the Trinamool Congress.

However, this tie-up did not fetch dividends as Congress and CPI(M) bagged 44 and 26 seats respectively in the 294-member Assembly. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are likely to regularly campaign in the state in the run-up to the Assembly election. While Congress and CPI(M) have hinted at conducting a joint rally at the Brigade Parade ground in Kolkata, they are yet to finalise the seat-sharing formula. 

Read: WB CM Mamata Visits Gutted Kolkata Slum, Promises To Rebuild Shanties