Congress had left 28 of 42 Lok Sabha seats to Trinamool in 2009

A day after Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee accused it of acting as an "agent" of CPI(M) by breaking the alliance for the May 30 Kolkata civic polls, Congress today said such utterances are not examples of political courtesy.

"If we help them then we are good, otherwise we become the agent of the CPI-M. Such utterances are painful to us. It is not an example of political courtesy," CLP leader Manas Bhunia told a press conference here.
    
"Of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, we had left 28 to TC in 2009 although it had only one MP at that time, while we had six MPs... We made sacrifices and helped the Trinamool Congress grow from one MP to 19 MPs in the 2009 Lok Sabha poll," he said.
 
The Congress had sought 21 of the 142 seats which it had won in 2005 Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections and 30 seats in which it came second, he said. "Nothing can be more reasonable than this."
    
Bhunia said it was not the Congress which had broken the alliance for the May 30 polls, but it was the TC which had unilaterally announced its list leaving just 25 seats to the Congress.

Banerjee had yesterday rung down the curtains on its alliance with the Congress saying no alliance existed between the two parties, though TC's alliance at the Centre would continue 'as long as we can get due honour'.
    
She had also announced candidates for all the 141 seats in the KMC.

On Banerjee's contention that the Congress did not cede any seat to Trinamool Congress in its stronghold in Murshidabad, Bhunia defended it saying the party did not have any councillor in any civic body in the district.
    
Referring to her remark that the Congress which was running the UPA government did not have a majority on its own, he said, "We know it. We also know that Congress is running a coalition government in Delhi. But, it is also true that Congress helped TC win 19 seats."

To prove that Congress was sincere in its fight against CPI-M which had jointly voted with BJP on cut motions in Lok Sabha, he said it had left Sealdah and Bowbazar seats to TC during the assembly by-election last year.
    
"We had also jointly moved an adjournment motion with TC in the assembly against the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government."

Since it was a local election, he said, both Congress and Trinamool Congress should fight as friendly partners without leaving an inch to the CPI(M), he said.

Bhunia also contested Banerjee's remark that the Congress would be left without a 'signboard' in the civic polls and said that the matter should better be left to the people.