Congress may fight West Bengal panchayat polls alone

Congress, which is sharing a tumultuous relationship with ally Trinamool Congress at Centre and the state, on Friday said it may fight the panchayat elections in West Bengal alone and would take a decision after consulting its state unit.

"We will take a decision on whether to fight alone or together after taking the opinion of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee," AICC general secretary in-charge of West Bengal Shakeel Ahmed said in Malda.

"In Tamil Nadu we have an alliance with DMK at the Centre and state level, but we fought the panchayat elections alone, similarly in Maharashtra, we went alone in the panchayat level though we have tie-up with NCP for the Parliament and Assembly polls," Ahmed said.

While the Trinamool Congress is part of UPA government at the Centre, the Congress is in the Trinamool Congress-led government in West Bengal.

Relations between the two allies have soured over several issues with Trinamool Congress refusing to budge on its stand on Lokpal, petroleum price and FDI in retail, while the state unit of the Congress has been raking up issues like paddy procurement and renaming of Indira Bhavan, where the late prime minister stayed during the 1972 AICC session.