CM pinpoints main foe: Left

TT, Calcutta, Dec. 5: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today told her Trinamul colleagues that she considered the Left her party's principal enemy in next summer's Assembly polls, although she has been attacking the BJP in public over the past few weeks.

During a closed-door meeting at her Kalighat home with leaders from Burdwan, Mamata reportedly said she did not wish to witness a Left resurgence in the elections.

"The Left must not be allowed to rise again. Do not attack their rallies or meetings. Counter them politically. But do counter them effectively, so that they are wiped out in the elections," she was quoted as saying by a source who attended the meeting.

Several senior Trinamul leaders said Mamata's instructions had made it clear that she did not attach much importance to the Congress and the BJP, and that her recent attacks on the Centre were part of a "strategy to counter the pressure of the CBI probe into the Saradha scam".

The other reason for the BJP bashing, the leaders said, was to send out the message to the minority community that the "Modi-Mamata bonhomie" campaign by the Opposition had no basis.

"The BJP could try and create communal disturbances as part of its polarising campaign strategy. Prevent that from getting out of hand. But it is the Left you should focus on," the source quoted the chief minister as saying today.

A CPM state secretariat member said it seemed that Mamata had taken the Left's political programmes - from dozens of rallies in rural belts to a party plenum in Calcutta followed by a rally at the Brigade Parade Grounds on December 27 that might witness a heavy turnout - "seriously".

"We take it as a compliment," he quipped.

Cong axis call

Many Bengal Congress leaders today reportedly spoke in favour of an understanding with the Left for next year's Assembly elections during a meeting with the party's state minder, C.P. Joshi.

Before leaving for Delhi, Joshi told The Telegraph: "I advised them to strengthen the organisation first. However, the leadership will take a call on the issue when our preparations for the Assembly polls begin."