By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Kolkata: Impressed with the electoral significance of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH) in Assam, the West Bengal unit of the Congress Party is trying to forge an alliance with the organization as the panchayat election is approaching.
State Congress acting president Pradip Bhattacharya has reportedly said his party will hold talks with state unit president of JUH, Siddiqullah Chowdhury to work out an alliance formula. Chowdhury had walked out of the Congress a couple of years ago to join JUH amid rumours that he was planted in the minority outfit by the Congress to undercut the CPI(M)’s minority vote-bank.
It is said that Chowdhury has emerged as a minority leader in the wake of the violence in Nandigram. He extensively campaigned in Nandigram and nearby areas against the government’s alleged “policy of singling out minority land for industrial development.”
Earlier, the Trinamool Congress tried to win over Chowdhury. But it failed to do so. Now Congress is doing so to win the minority electorate in the panchayat election.