PCC factionalism comes to fore over April 21 rally

Kolkata, Apr 16 (UNI) The squabblings in West Bengal Congress came to fore with the rival faction, led by veteran party leader Subrata Mukherjee, deciding to boycott the April 21 rally.

The rally was called by former state party president Somen Mitra to protest the ruling Left Front's Land Reforms policy.

'' This is not the Congress-led meeting and there was no appeal to the party workers to take part. It was the former PCC president's rally and the Congress workers have no links with it, '' Mr Mukherjee told newspersons here today.

He alleged that the present PCC leadership was a total failure to fight against the ruling government's land reforms policy and had lost every right to continue in the saddle.

At a time when UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi were appealing to the Congress workers to fight unitedly against the state government, the present PCC leadership was organising the rally without calling an executive committee meeting, Mr Mukherjee said.

He also alleged that PCC president Pranab Mukherjee's name was printed on the poster as the Foreign Affairs Minister and not as the PCC president, and said the poster was carrying only former president Somen Mitra's photo appealing to the workers to join this rally.

'' We can join the rally if the present PCC leadership annouces that it is the Congress meeting and not the individual ones, '' he said.

UNI