"No Alliance With Indian Secular Front If...": Bengal Congress Leader

Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan on Saturday said the party will not forge an alliance with the Indian Secular Front (ISF) if the latter joins hands with the AIMIM.

Speaking to ANI, Mr Mannan said, "We all know BJP and TMC are the same and both are communal. To stop them we need to join hands with secular parties. However, if ISF forges any alliance with the AIMIM, we will not go further with the alliance and I have conveyed this to them."

The development comes a day after Mr Mannan wrote a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi urging her to look into the possibility of a grand alliance in Bengal to "target more winnable seats."

"Amidst the dialogue process with the Left Front on the electoral alliance, I would like to add a possibility of a grand alliance in Bengal to target more winnable seats. You are aware that the Congress Party in West Bengal stood for the minorities for many years," Mr Mannan wrote to Ms Sonia.

"ISF leader Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui who belongs to the eminent religious family of Furfura Sharif, Hooghly, is popular for his oratory skills not only among Muslims but also among Dalits and Tribals," he added.

Mr Mannan said that the addition of IFS in the Left-Congress alliance may be a "game-changer" in the ensuing Assembly Election of West Bengal.

Pirzada Abbas, the founder of Furfura Sharif Ahale Sunnatul Jamat, launched a separate party, Indian Secular Front, in Kolkata on January 22.

There are speculations that ISF might forge an alliance with AIMIM after AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi met Siddique last month.

The West Bengal Assembly Elections for 294 seats are scheduled to take place this year.