By IANS,
Agartala : After West Bengal, the Congress and Trinamool Congress Monday formed an alliance in Tripura to fight against the ruling Left Front in a key by-election.
The by-poll to the Bordowali assembly seat in western Tripura would be held May 28.
“The deal with the Congress was finalised with the instruction of the Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee,” Arun Chandra Bhowmik, chairman of the Trinamool Congress’ Tripura unit, told reporters.
“We do not want to divide the non-Left vote and are averse to offer an opportunity to the Left parties to wrest the politically important assembly seat,” he said.
The main opposition Congress has chosen former chairman of the Agartala municipal council and party’s youth leader Ashish Saha for the seat.
The prestigious assembly constituency was vacant following the death of sitting Congress legislator and former Tripura chief minister Sudhir Ranjan Majumder Jan 4.
Both the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and opposition Congress have been trying to come to power in the important assembly seat in the Tripura capital Agartala.
The Trinamool Congress has contested separately against both Congress and Left Front in the elections to the two Lok Sabha constituencies in Tripura last month.
The CPI-M-led Left Front has nominated Forward Bloc state secretary Shyamal Roy as its nominee for the by-election while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded its state vice-president Sujit Datta.
Though the Forward Bloc, following dispute over seat-sharing with the CPI-M had fought last year’s Tripura assembly elections separately, the party returned to the Front in the immediate aftermath of the polls.