Congress slams CPI-M for not supporting it on Herald issue

Kolkata, Dec 9: Senior Congress leader Manas Bhunia on Wednesday, Dec 9 lashed out at CPI(M) for not standing beside the party on the National Herald issue in the Parliament but praised Mamata Banerjee for her support.

Bhunia went one step further calling for Congress going it alone in the 2016 Assembly elections and not join hands with the CPI-M - a possibility which is being widely speculated upon.

However, Bhunia's praise of Mamata did not find favour with state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, who described the TMC as a party of "opportunists".

"We condemn the way the BJP is pursuing vendetta politics against the Congress and our leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. We are thankful to TMC and Mamata Banerjee for standing beside Congress in our fight against intolerance," Bhunia told reporters.

He went on to say, "We condemn the stance taken by the CPI-M of not supporting us by terming it as an issue of corruption. This is vendetta politics. We would like to appeal to Congress leaders in Bengal for not creating confusion by talking about alliance with any party. We should rather focus on fighting alone."

Opposing Bhunia's stance, Chowdhury alleged, "TMC is a party of opportunists. They change colours according to their own political needs.

They don't have any principle." Banerjee yesterday expressed solidarity with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, saying it makes her "sad" and "feel bad" that she was asked to appear in court in connection with the National Herald case.

PTI