West Bengal Elections 2016: CPI(M) to take final call on alliance with Congress next week

A final call on the proposal of an electoral alliance with the Congress in West Bengal to take on the ruling TMC in the upcoming Assembly elections, is likely to be taken by the CPI(M) state leadership within the next one week, a senior CPI(M) leader said.

"Just wait for this week to pass. The picture will be clearer by next week," a CPI(M) Central Committee member told PTI on condition of anonymity, when asked whether the state leadership has given a green signal on the proposed alliance with the Congress in Bengal. When asked whether Left allies like the Forward Bloc and the RSP have been taken on board on the issue, the CPI(M) leader said "We have told them about the situation and the need of the hour for a strategy to take on the TMC in Bengal."

Speculation on an alliance gained momentum after CPI(M) state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra, while addressing a rally on last Sunday, had said "it is now time for the Congress to decide yes or no. Now, the Congress has to decide what it will do. They have to talk to their high command. It may take time. (But) the sooner they take the decision, the better." CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on the last day of the party's organisational Plenum in December had said it is for the state unit to take a call on any alliance with the Congress in West Bengal.

The alliance issue has been cropping up from time to time with a section of the Bengal unit's leadership reportedly rooting for such a tie-up with the Congress to take on the the ruling Trinamool Congress.