“To remove the CPM-led Left Front from power, we have to unite all secular votes and for the same purpose, the Congress and the Trinamool will have to work together,” said the newly appointed state Congress chief Manas Bhuniya after taking charge of the state unit.

According to him, vote arithmetic showed that Congress or Trinamool cannot remove the Left Front on their own. “It has been seen that whenever votes are divided, the Marxists benefit,” he added.

Admitting that his task was challenging, Bhuniya who succeeded Pranab Mukherjee, said his first priority would be to strengthen the party organisation and ties with Trinamool.

Stating that he would try to build up a collective leadership in the party and the organisations, CLP leader Bhuniya said: “Our slogan will be not I, but we. Congress workers are our strength. We have to build a mass movement which will show that Congress is not finished in the state.”