Kolkata: Responding to the appeal of Mamata Banerjee, the Congress in West Bengal on Sunday decided to go for a joint movement with the Trinamool Congress against acquisition of agricultural land for setting up of industry.
The party's gesture, however, came with a rider as it called for formation of a Secular Democratic Alliance in the state in an obvious bid to isolate from the BJP, the main enemy of the Congress at the national level.
''We have decided to participate in a joint movement with the Trinamool Congress against any future acqusition of farmland for industry. While our party is in favour of industry it strongly opposes the destruction of farmland,'' Pradesh Congress Committee Working President Pradip Bhattacharjee said, after a state secretariat meeting.
The meeting was called to decide the party's course of action following an appeal by Trinamool Supremo for a sustained joint movement against the agricultural policy of the Left Front government.
The Trinamool leader made the appeal on the advice of Union Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi during a telecon on last Tuesday.
Dasmunsi has been trying to bridge the gap between the two major opposition forces keeping at bay the BJP and strike a political realignment in the divided Anti-Left camps in the state.
The Trinamool recently observed a 12-hour Bangla Bandh on the Singur issue and the Congress extented unconditional support to it.
However, sensing that any further opposition to the small car factory could be counter productive, the Congress decided that the party would not continue to take a hard stand against this particular project, but would play on a broader plank opposing acquisition of agricultural land as a whole.
''Our party wants industry to be set up on infertile land and not on agricultural plots which will take away the livlihood of the farmer,'' Bhatttacharjee said.
In an apparant snubbing to senior leader Subroto Mukherjee, the PCC Secretariat also decided to maintain a party-to-party relation with the Trinamool and discourage involvement of any individual.
Mukherjee himself was present at the Trinamool office on October nine for a joint-briefing on the bandh where Senior Trinamool leader Ajit Panja asserted that his party would continue to be a partner of the BJP-led NDA.
As both the Trinamool and the Congress were mauled by the CPI(M) led Left coalition in the assembly elections five months ago despite having bagged a combined 49 per cent votes, serious thoughts were being given at both ends for the possibility of regrouping to keep undivided the anti-left vote bank in future polls.
Beginning the process of amending the mistakes of the past both the parties came to an unofficial seat adjustment during the by-elections to three Lok Sabha and one assembly seats last month, as Banerjee showed cold shoulder to the BJP during negotiations.
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