Congress To Move Court Seeking Central Forces For Bengal Panchayat Polls

 The Congress will move to court seeking the deployment of central forces to ensure that the upcoming panchayat polls in West Bengal are held peacefully and in a fair manner.

As the panchayat elections are approaching, an environment of terror is created, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed.

The dates of the panchayat polls are yet to be announced. However, the elections are expected to be held within a few months.

"State government officials will not be able to hold the elections peacefully. Therefore, the deployment of central forces is necessary. The Congress will move court the moment the dates of the elections are announced," Mr Chowdhury told reporters.

The Lok Sabha MP said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should assure the people of the state that there will be no bloodshed during the rural polls. The previous panchayat elections were marred by violence and several people lost their lives, he said.

"Many people were not able to cast votes as they were beaten up. If it cannot happen peacefully, it should not happen at all," the Congress leader said.

Mr Chowdhury also said that the Congress is always open to joining hands with the Left parties as they have done in the recently held Sagardighi by-poll in the state and the Tripura Assembly elections.

"We have never shunned the Left but the Left had created a distance in the past… I have no problem if they form a coalition with us," he said.

To a question, Mr Chowdhury said that time has come to actively consider the recommendations of the Punchhi Commission on Centre-state relations.

He also claimed that the 'political DNA' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is the same.

On the arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manoj Sisodia, Mr Chowdhury said that Congress never indulged in vindictive politics.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)