West Bengal Cong delegation not averse to alliance with TC

A delegation of state level leaders of West Bengal Congress, including some party legislators, which is now in Delhi to meet the party's central leaders, on Tuesday said they were not against any alliance with the Trinamool Congress for the coming Lok Sabha polls, but wanted it to be forged on "honourable terms" for the Congress.

The leader of the delegation, Manas Bhunia, told PTI over phone from Delhi today that they met the AICC general secretary in-charge of West Bengal, Mohsina Kidwai, on Monday and expressed their views on the possible alliance with Trinamool Congress.

He said they told Kidwai that in case the AICC gave a green signal for the alliance, it should be ensured that the leaders like former PCC chief Somen Mitra and another senior leader Sudip Bandyopadhya, who have left the party recently, should not be given any support by the Congress if they contest the coming Lok Sabha poll.

This means that the Congress should field candidates against them in the event of an Trinamool-Congress alliance.

Of the two leaders, Mitra has floated a new party which is an ally of Trinamool while Bandyopadhya had rejoined the Trinamool Congress.

Bhunia, who is the leader of the Congress Legislature party in West Bengal, said that the delegation comprising several leaders stressed during the talks with Kidwai that state level leaders wanted to ensure that Trinamool left some seats for Congress with a winning chance in South Bengal where the TC has a support base.