Kolkata: Months after the Congress and Trinamool Congress parted ways amidst acrimony in West Bengal, trade unions of the two bitter rivals have forged an alliance against a CITU-backed employees` body in Tuesday`s union election at the NSCBI airport here.
The Airport Authorities Employees Union (Kolkata division), an independent union body which is supported by CPI(M)`s labour`s arm CITU, will go into the polls tomorrow along with other trade union bodies in airports across the country.
The Airports Authority Employees` Union (AAEU) in the airport here, which is known to be apolitical, is supported by the CPI(M)`s trade union wing CITU.
The two former allies, however, took care not to read too much in the coming together of the two trade union bodies.
TMC MP Saugata Ray told a news agency, "It has nothing to do with Congress or Trinamool. INTUC and INTTUC along with other forces, who want to oust the Left-supported trade union, has decided to fight together."
On the other hand, Congress district president Debi Ghosal argued, "It is an effort to fight the CPI(M)-supported trade union. But it is not an official alliance."
The CPI(M) predictably came down heavily on the alliance by terming it as an "alliance without principle".
"It is an alliance without any principle to defeat an independent union. The airport union has nothing to do with CITU, it is an independent body. Although we support the union," CPI(M) leader Amitava Nandy said.
PTI
