Calcutta, April 28: Sonia Gandhi today asked Bengal Congress leaders to forget their differences and together take on the ruling Communist party in the panchayat polls in May.

“Bury your differences. Only a united Congress can fight the CPM in Bengal,” Sonia told a delegation of party leaders when they called on her at the VVIP lounge in the Calcutta airport minutes after her arrival.

PCC chief Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, former Calcutta mayor Subrata Mukherjee and former state Congress working president Pradip Bhattacharya, among others, were present at the airport.

“We are happy that madam was convinced when we told her that the state Congress leaders are working together burying their differences,” said Bhattacharya after the 20-minute meeting.

Gandhi asked the leaders to highlight the Centre’s people-friendly schemes.

Mukherjee urged Gandhi to send her son and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to take part in rallies in Bengal before the rural polls. State leaders also drew her attention to the spate of violence in the run-up to the elections.