One of the four district Congress presidents, Pradip Ghosh, is in the fray along with his daughter-in-law Tania against the Trinamool in the area. Ghosh is said to be instrumental in causing the breakdown of the seat-sharing talks between his party and the Trinamool for the May 30 civic polls.

“I know who are with the CPM and who are not. I also don’t believe in a friendly fight. It is now clear to me who have already fled the battlefield without fighting. Trinamool Congress is the only party which can remove the CPM from power even though the Marxists have been ruling the state for 34 years,” Banerjee said.

The Trinamool chief also hinted at a “conspiracy being hatched against her party to thwart its popularity that could pull down the CPM-led government”. “Many more conspiracies will be planned against our party. But no force will be able to prevent us from removing the CPM from power.”’

In an apparent attempt to dissuade the voters from voting for the Congress, Banerjee told the gathering, “Every vote is precious. You want to see the CPM collapse as do we. Don’t spoil the opportunity to remove the CPM. Use your vote in a manner that it does not get lost.” Banerjee’s close aide and Trinamool MP Sudip Banerjee, however, did not fight shy of naming the Congress as the main adversary in the area. He urged the people not to vote for the local Congress candidate.