Calcutta, Feb 12 : Mamata Banerjee and Sonia Gandhi have swapped reciprocal gestures that could culminate in an alliance for the Lok Sabha polls and pose the toughest challenge yet to the Left in their three-decade run in Bengal.

The Congress today announced the withdrawal of its candidate for the February 26 Bishnupur (West) Assembly bypoll, removing an impediment before the Trinamul Congress that had lost the last election by 4,000 votes.

The Congress decision came less than 24 hours after Mamata further distanced herself from the BJP-led NDA and vowed to back a secular alliance after the polls.

Veteran Union minister and state Congress chief Pranab Mukherjee called his deputy and former Calcutta mayor Subrata Mukherjee this afternoon to convey the party’s stand. “I clarified the party leadership’s position and asked Subrata to ensure the withdrawal of the candidate in the interest of a durable anti-Left counter in Bengal,” Mukherjee said.

“Pranabda explained that the present situation called for reciprocation of Mamata’s offer of post-poll support for a secular alliance. Our act will pave the way for bonding with Trinamul,” said Subrata, a votary for collaboration with Mamata.

Congress candidate Mumtazuddin Gazi has been asked to withdraw his nomination by tomorrow — a day before the last day for pullout. 

Having been in talks with the Congress high command over the past several weeks, Mamata speeded up the process through a public assertion last evening.

“I did not back the Ram mandir issue when I was in the NDA. In fact, the BJP and the CPM raise some emotive issues whenever elections are approaching. I have not attended an NDA meeting for over four years…. Ours is a secular party and we will back a secular alliance after the Lok Sabha polls,” Mamata had said.

Her comments more or less offered a long-sought, clear-cut position on an issue the Congress leadership found to be a hurdle for an ideologically correct alliance.

Although Mamata refrained from saying explicitly that her ties with the NDA have snapped and the Congress was a prospective ally, the high command responded swiftly.

With the Congress nominee out of the way and a split in Opposition votes averted, Trinamul’s Madan Mitra, a Mamata favourite, now has a chance to wrest the seat from the CPM.

Mamata welcomed the Congress’s gesture, describing it as “a step in the right direction”. “I want all anti-CPM forces to come together to avert a split in the Opposition vote,” she said.

“It is an extremely positive development,” said Deepa Das Munshi who has been opposing an alliance that tilted in favour of Mamata. “It shows Mamata realises no single party can hope to dislodge the CPM without support from the Congress. And it will be in her interest as well to ensure that the Congress leaders do not feel downsized because of the alliance with Trinamul.”

Efforts are already on to hazard a guess on how a prospective alliance will affect the Left that has taken a series of hard knocks of late.

Proponents of the Congress-Trinamul alliance feel that if sabotage and dissidence — the twin nemeses of a 2001 union — are kept at bay, the combine can hope to mop up the bulk of Muslim votes — about 26 per cent of the electorate — and bag up to 20 to 22 seats in districts like North and South 24-Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia, West Midnapore and Calcutta in south Bengal.

The CPM and its allies now control as many as 35 of the state’s 42 parliamentary seats. The Congress has six seats in north Bengal and Mamata one — herself from Calcutta (South).

In the absence of an alliance, according to preliminary estimates, Trinamul’s tally may range between eight and 10 seats and the Congress between five and seven.