Murshidabad worry for Cong-Left bonhomie

Behrampore: The statewide camaraderie between Left Front and Congress supporters has taken a hit in Murshidabad. State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury on Friday accused the Forward Bloc of taking money from the ruling Trinamool to derail the alliance prospects in Murshidabad. The Bloc leaders reacted by asking Adhir to decide first on who is his adversary - the Trinamool or Left partners.
Adhir's statement to reporters in Behrampore was followed by FB's insistence to field its candidate for the Murshidabad assembly constituency. Going by the 2014 Lok Sabha results, the Left had held this seat with a slender margin of 230 votes. In 2011 election, Congress had won the seat. With this, in Murshidabad's 22 assembly seats, half will witness friendly contests between Congress and Left Front. A vote-split, therefore, is only likely to help Trinamool - a reason why Adhir is furious.
Adhir alleged the Murshidabad seat was left for Congress as per the alliance formula. "It is clear that FB has taken money from Trinamool to give them advantage in election. This is unexpected and unethical," he said. FB's district secretary and Murshidabad candidate Bibhas Chakraborty said, "Left Front chairperson Biman Bose had announced that this seat would be contested by FB. Let him (Adhir) complain before Bose instead." FB leader Naren Chatterjee said, "Let him first decide who are his foes. Is it the Left or Trinamool? He is a senior leader, he should know what he is saying."
RSP also faced Adhir's ire. This Left constituent has fielded five candidates in the district. Former MP and senior RSP leader Pramathesh Mukherjee said: "I won't comment on his statement. But things have come to such a stage when we feel that we shouldn't have entered into such an opportunistic alliance with Congress. We are in the Left Front for four-decades. The sole objective of this alliance is to give Congress some breathing space. But it's bleeding the Left Front."