One of the leaders of Congress' dissenting group, Anand Sharma, on Monday objected to the Congress-Left alliance in West Bengal, saying that the core ideology cannot be compromised, adding that the Congress cannot be selective in fighting communalists but must do so in all its manifestations.
"Congress' alliance with parties like ISF and other such forces militates against the core ideology of the party and Gandhian and Nehruvian secularism, which forms the soul of the party. These issues need to be approved by the CWC," Sharma said.
"Congress cannot be selective in fighting communalists but must do so in all its manifestations, irrespective of religion and colour," he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congress cannot be selective in fighting communalists but must do so in all its manifestations, irrespective of religion and colour. The presence and endorsement West Bengal PCC President is painful and shameful, he must clarify.</p>— Anand Sharma (@AnandSharmaINC) <a >March 1, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Hitting back at Sharma, Congress leader in Lok Sabha and West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said his criticism against his own party was “only serving the polarising agenda of Bharatiya Janata Party”.
Speaking to ABP News, Adhir Ranjan said, "I feel very strange how Anand Sharma can speak about others while being a part of the same party. The opposition becomes stronger with such statements. The one who is saying such things is an intelligent, senior, knowledgeable leader, what was the need of making such baseless statements.
He went on to say that "This statement of Anand Sharma is the line of BJP, BJPy wants to make communal and this statement is coming from there. In West Bengal, it does not recognise Anand Sharma and does not listen to him. He has no importance." "Anand Sharma wrote on Twitter to get highlighted in the eyes of the Congress leadership, but his point is absolutely baseless," Ranjan added.
The Left and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) are in talks with the Congress over seat sharing arrangements in poll-bound Bengal.
The Congress and the Left are in alliance with the ISF and want to make the Assembly polls a triangular contest, and not only between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP. The saffron party has placed itself as the main opposition in the state after winning 18 seats in the Lok Sabha polls there in 2019.