A fresh strain in the Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance came to the fore on Friday when Youth Congress workers took out a silent procession in Kolkata denouncing "attacks" on Congress by the alliance partner in West Bengal.
Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee slammed the Congress for taking out the procession to "strengthen the hands of the Communist Party of India-Marxist".
West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pradip Bhattacharya, on the other hand, justified it saying that Youth Congress workers had decided to take it out to protest attacks on them and police inaction.
"Taking out a procession does not indicate any rift or tarnish of the government. It is only a protest," he said.
He also said that Congress would do nothing to create division in the alliance with the Trinamool Congress.
"Congress is for strengthening the alliance with Trinamool Congress and not for breaking it. We will do nothing that will strengthen the hands of CPI-M. We will never allow the CPI-M to come back to power in the state," Bhattacharya said.
Reposing his party's faith on Mamata Banerjee government, he said, "We are with the government and will remain so."
To a question, he said the procession would not affect the Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance. Posters taken out in the procession read 'What kind of coalition dharma is this that YC workers are under attack all over West Bengal?'.
Other posters read 'Trinamool's two virtues -- create rift in Congress and murder Youth Congress'.
The procession was led by state YC president Mausam Benazir, MP, and Mamata Banerjee baiter Deepa Dasmunshi, MP, from Hazra Road to Gandhi's statue on the Maidan.
The strains appeared prior to the November 30 by-poll to the South Kolkata Lok Sabha seat, where Congress has supported Trinamool Congress candidate Subrata Bakshi.
The by-poll has been necessitated due to resignation of Banerjee after she became chief minister.
