In a meeting of party state committee, the CPM election managers said the Trinamool was more harmful for the Marxists than the Congress. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Commerce and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen attended the meeting, where party state secretary Biman Bose laid down the poll campaign strategy.

Sources said after analysing the May 2008 panchayat poll results, the party top leaders concluded that the Trinamool supporters worked as the nucleus at the grassroots level to create total Opposition unity, which virtually ousted the CPM from several panchayat bodies across the state. “We are still waiting for the so-called alliance between the Trinamool and the Congress. If they reach a tie-up finally, we can change our strategy,” said a senior CPM leader.

The 83-member state committee has also finalised the list of candidates and identified seven Lok Sabha constituencies where the Congress will be their main enemy. The seven seats are Darjeeling, Raigunge, Malda North, Malda South, Jangipur, Murshidabad and Behrampore.