Cong, Left to jointly fight 2021 Bengal polls

Congress and the Left have decided to fight the 2021 West Bengal assembly election jointly even as Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress fights an aggressive bid by BJP to wrest power in the state. PCC president and MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury announced the tie-up, which was expected as the two sides had been jointly undertaking programmes in the state for some time. Local Congress functionaries had spoken of the need to formalise the alliance during a virtual interaction with Rahul Gandhi and AICC state in-charge Jitin Prasada last month. While the two parties are fighting the Bengal polls together, Congress and the Left are principal rivals in Kerala.