Polls 2011: WB voters polarised, says Pranab Mukherjee

Independents candidates contesting against Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections would not be able to influence the results as voters of the state had become polarised, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee said tonight.

"The voters in the state are polarised. Those supporting Left parties will vote for them and those against the Left will support the Opposition alliance. So these independent candidates will not matter," he said, reacting to reports of several dissident Congressmen contesting as independents against the alliance.

Mukherjee, along with AICC general secretary in charge of West Bengal Shakeel Ahmad, is scheduled to meet the WBPCC leadership to discuss the party's election campaign and the issue of dealing with dissidents filing nomination as independents against the alliance.

"I will call upon such partymen to withdraw their nomination. Otherwise action will be taken against them according to party rules," Ahmad said.

Earlier, senior AICC members Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Pradip Bhattacharya had also appealed to the dissidents to withdraw their nomination.