Meet with Rahul Gandhi fruitless, West Bengal netas meet Sonia Gandhi

NEW DELHI: West Bengal Congress members met party chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday in an attempt to revive the party in the state where it has been limited to some pockets in the north and central parts for years now, but has recently suffered further dents with BJP's emergence.

Five Bengal Congress members asked Sonia to consider aligning with Left parties and also demanded that state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Choudhury be replaced if the party has to regain ground and take advantage of Trinamool Congress's troubles due to the Saradha scam. The five members -Pradip Bhattacharya, Deepa Dasmunsi, Abdul Mannan, Somen Mitra and Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury -are seen as anti-Adhir Choudhury camp.

The state members had earlier met Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi on two occasions with the same demand but things did not change. The recent byelection results saw Congress's vote share slip further, and members rushed to the party president. According to the them, Sonia responded positively to their suggestions.

Given the significant Muslim population in the state, Congress aims to reclaim minority votes which had shifted to TMC after being with Left parties during its 34 years in office.

Congress feels that disillusioned with TMC, Muslim votes cannot go to BJP and it should position itself as a credible option considering that Left parties are yet to recover.

That both Congress and Left are principally opposed to BJP could be the glue for a tie-up, state Congress members said.