Rahul Gandhi & Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee To Share Stage In Park Circus

Kolkata: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will share stage with Rahul Gandhi in Park Circus at a rally on Wednesday.

The CPM-Congress alliance is now almost a month old. But the Left has been coy about it, calling it an understanding. The Congress is much more up-front.

Trinamool says the rally is a sign of desperation and that both parties are clutching at straws. But sources say the CPM in Bengal decided to come out, as it were, after something of fiasco on Sunday at Singur. That day, at a joint Congress-CPM rally, Congress’s Adhir Chowdhury and CPM’s Sitaram Yechuri were expected. But no one was sure they would share stage. Adhir Chowdhury, who arrived first, was clearly willing. “People ask me how the CPM and the Congress are holding hands.  People are amazed," he said. “But I say, if after 88 years, America’s Barack Obama can go to Cuba and shake hands with Fidel Castro and declare they will work together, why can’t we and CPM?” he further added. But he left disappointed. Sitaram Yechuri arrived 20 minutes later. In his speech, there was no word about the Congress or the understanding, leave alone the alliance.

“There is nothing official about it," he said about the understanding. "This is all happening because of pressure from the ground level.  It is a response to the people’s urge.”

The rally on Wednesday is undoubtedly going to be counted as one of the biggest political events of the year.