A verandah at Ghani Khan Chowdhury’s house being spruced up for Sonia Gandhi’s visit. Picture by Amit Datta

Calcutta, April 27: On the eve of Sonia Gandhi’s Bengal trip, Mamata Banerjee scoffed at leaders who come here “once every five years” and urged panchayat voters to defeat “CPM-ally” Congress.

“I want the people to defeat the CPM-ally Congress in the rural polls and help us emerge as a viable alternative to the Left Front,” she said after releasing the Trinamul Congress manifesto this afternoon.

Asked about Sonia’s visit, Mamata said: “I’m a down-to-earth person and have always been with the people here. But there are leaders who find the time to visit Bengal once every five years.”

The Congress president is coming to the state after two years. She was in the city on April 15, 2006, to pay her last respects to A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury and was in north Bengal in May to campaign for the Assembly polls.

A Trinamul leader said Mamata chose the day before Sonia’s visit for the manifesto release “to highlight the Congress’s hobnobbing with the CPM before its president”.

The manifesto harps on Mamata’s aversion to the Congress and does not utter a word against the BJP.

“The Congress has shamelessly reached an understanding with the CPM in three north Bengal districts for zilla parishad seats, but is desperately looking for an alliance with us in south Bengal, where we are strong. I condemn this dishonesty,” she told the news conference at her Kalighat house.

Mamata accused state Congress chief Priya Ranjan Das Munshi of “misusing his powers” as the information and broadcasting minister. “He is getting reports about a Congress-Trinamul pact published to encourage party workers to forge such partnerships at the grassroots. I’m opposed to any understanding with the opportunistic Congress.”

Das Munshi told a news conference recently that grassroots Congress workers were forging alliances with Trinamul for the rural polls.

Asked to react to Mamata’s comments, Das Munshi today said they were “unfortunate”. “I feel bad about them (the comments). But I won’t utter a word against those fighting the CPM in Bengal,” he added.