Kolkata: After Rahul Gandhi's call for an "alliance of respect" with Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the state unit of Congress on Friday suggested that it would not sacrifice its own growth while continuing the tie-up.
"There is an alliance in West Bengal and we want to maintain the alliance. But if I strengthen my party and its leadership in the state, is that a great sin?" the state party
chief Manas Bhunia told reporters here.
Earlier, a PCC meeting chaired by Bhunia unanimously authorised party president Sonia Gandhi to nominate the PCC president, vice-president, treasurer, PCC executive committee, AICC members from the state and the Pradesh Electoral Committee.
Bhunia, who became the PCC chief in June, said the WBPCC elections were last held in 1992 and since then the state PCC functionaries were nominated by the party president. Recently a group of Congress leaders, mostly sacked DCC chiefs, had held a protest outside the party headquarters here demanding "democracy" within the organisation.
They were up in arms against Bhunia claiming that he had been made the state party president without consensus. A group of rebel leaders had met Union Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi recently seeking his intervention in the issue.
PTI
First Published: Friday, September 17, 2010, 21:55