Calcutta, May 4: Priya Ranjan Das Munshi today urged people to vote for the Trinamul Congress in places where Congress candidates are not in the fray.

“I want people to vote for Trinamul Congress candidates in places where our party candidates are not contesting under the hand symbol. They should also back Trinamul where Congress-supported Independents are not present,” the state Congress chief said at the Calcutta Press Club this morning.

His Trinamul counterpart, however, has shown no such sign of bonhomie, calling the Congress a “CPM ally”.

“I want people to defeat CPM ally Congress in the rural polls and help us emerge as a viable alternative to the ruling Left Front,” Mamata Banerjee had said a week ago.

When Das Munshi was asked about Mamata’s stand, he said: “Congress and Trinamul leaders at the grassroots are coming together to take on the ruling CPM in the rural polls regardless of what we are talking about. A grand alliance of anti-CPM forces is the need of the hour for villagers to fight the CPM’s terror reign.”

Mamata dismissed Das Munshi’s comments. “This is just an attempt of the state Congress to cover up its weaknesses to put up candidates where it has no support base.”