By IANS,
Kolkata: While exuding confidence of stitching a “strong” alliance with the Trinamool Congress for the West Bengal assembly polls, state Congress president Manas Bhuniya Wednesday asked leaders from that party to stop poking him and his party as it would be not healthy for the proposed tie-up.”There will be an alliance and it will be a strong one. We want alliance on the basis of two-thirds or one-third formula. We want a strong alliance for the polls,” Bhuniya told reporters here.
“But I would request Trinamool leaders not to poke us or criticise the state unit of our party as this would not be healthy for our alliance. May be (Trinamool chief) Mamata Banerjee is not aware of all this. But I would request her to look into the matter as such things are not healthy for an alliance,” said Bhuniya.
State Congress leaders have gone on record that they wished to contest 98 seats, that is one-third of the 294-seat state assembly, while leaving the remaining two-thirds for the Trinamool.
Bhuniya also demanded that as the dates for the assembly elections have been announced the state election commission should look into the movement of the joint forces fighting the Maoists.
“As assembly election dates have been announced, the election commission should look into the movement and the posting of the joint forces,” said Bhuniya
He requested the Election Commission to conduct combing operations to recover illegal arms and ammunition in the state ahead of the polls.
Polling in the state will be spread over six phases – April 18, 23 and 27 and May 3, 7 and 10.
The Left Front led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which came to power in June 1977 and has since won every election, faces its most serious challenge this time.
The Congress and the Trinamool had come together in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls to win 26 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats. However, the two parties failed to form an alliance in last year’s civic elections and went their separate ways.
Bhuniya and all state general secretaries and district party presidents will go to Delhi Sunday to talk to the Congress chief on the strategy for the elections and formation of an alliance with the Trinamool.