“The Congress will be responsible for this breach of alliance, which the people of Bengal wanted. I do not know what they will gain from this, or whether they will gain anything at all,” he said.

Those who appealed the people to vote for the Trinamool included Jogen Choudhury, playwright Bibhas Chakraborty, Bratya Basu, Bengali pop singer Nachiketa, educationist Sunanda Sanyal. Magsaysay award winner and author Mahasewta Devi was, however, conspicuous by her absence.

“In earlier polls, we witnessed the mandate to overthrow the present corrupt Left Front regime and bring in Mamata Banerjee. The mandate is still there. It is not understandable, why the Congress chose to contest separately and against its ally,” Suvaprasana added.

This is for the first time that the group of ‘intellectuals’ who were once with Left parties have openly urged the people to vote for the Trinamool. Since the days of Nandigram agitation, these ‘intellectuals’ were seen closing up to the Trinamool but never explicitly asked the people to vote for the party. Instead, they called for ‘change’. Only during the Lok Sabha campaign of vocalist Kabir Sumar, they came out in support of the Trinamool nominee.

Sources said that differences have erupted among the intellectuals over the issue campaigning directly for Mamata Banerjee.

Mahasweta Devi, who addressed a separate press conference over tribal issues at the same venue an hour later, said: “I don’t want to campaign for a particular political party.”