To tackle Mamata, Congress, Left likely to forge alliance for 2016 West Bengal polls

Kolkata: With the high voltage 2016 West Bengal Assembly Elections just months away, the Congress and the Left are expected to forge an alliance to take on the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is desperately trying to make inroads into the state.

During the last Assembly polls, the Trinamool created a history by ousting the Left, which had ruled the state for more than three decades.

According to reports, the Congress which suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, wants to align with the Left as it has no other option left. The West Bengal Congress has vehemently pitched for the alliance, however, the party high command is yet to take a call on the matter.

It may be noted that TMC has openly supported the GST Bill, which somewhere gives the indication that the ruling party might side with the Modi-led NDA after the Assembly polls.

Well at the same time Congress can be rest assured about Left that it won't go with the BJP.

Notably, pitching for an alliance with Congress in the coming elections in Bengal, CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee last week said people want such a tie-up to oust Trinamool from power. "... Lots of people are talking about the alliance. You need to understand why people are talking about the alliance, because they are demanding that all of us fight together to oust TMC from power," he said.

"There may be differences - differences between people but there is a single point which is to defeat TMC. We all have to fight together," Bhattacharjee said.

The CPI-M in Kerala will certainly face the heat if the CPI-M in West Bengal goes forward with an alliance with its arch rivals here - the Congress party.

Kerala and West Bengal go to the polls at the same time and the BJP is certain to rake up the issue of this new found alliance to its maximum, if the CPI-M decides to have a tie-up in Bengal.

The grand old party, which is going through a very bad phase, on Saturday sealed an alliance with Karunanidhi-led DMK for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.