By IANS
Kolkata : Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Wednesday announced the formation of a political alliance to take on West Bengal’s ruling Left Front in next year’s local body polls in West Bengal.
“We have decided to form a ‘Progressive Secular Democratic Front’ (PSDF) to fight against the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) in the coming panchayat election in West Bengal,” Banerjee told reporters Wednesday evening at Trinamul Congress headquarters here.
“We have welcomed all political parties, including Left Front partners, the Forward Bloc (FB), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI), to join us,” she said.
She said the Congress had already joined the meeting and expressed their consent to join the alliance. “Our party leaders are also in talks with different political parties in West Bengal so that they would also join hands with the alliance,” she said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been an impediment for a Trinamul Congress-Congress alliance, has been kept outside the front.
“The Front would be officially formed Nov 20 after discussing everything with other political parties,” Banerjee said.
State Congress leader Somen Mitra said: “It’s a very good decision and earlier also I expressed my desire to take such political steps in the state. It’s impossible for a single political party to fight the CPI-M in West Bengal.”
In a public gathering at Esplanade Tuesday, senior Congress leaders also expressed their willingness to go for an anti-Left coalition in the state.