K. Keshava Rao, Congress general secretary in charge of Bengal

Calcutta, May 9: The Congress today promised to go on the offensive against Mamata Banerjee in the run-up to the end-May civic elections, but left room for a realignment later.

“Our candidates will fight tooth and nail to get elected in the civic polls. If you enter the fray, your target must be to win,” K. Keshava Rao, the Congress general secretary in charge of Bengal, told The Telegraph from Delhi.

Asked whether the Congress candidates were serious about confronting Mamata’s Trinamul, a partner of the UPA government in Delhi, Rao said: “We don’t believe in friendly contests.”

Bengal Congress president Pranab Mukherjee, who will return to Calcutta tomorrow, has asked state leaders to prepare a blueprint for putting up a “tough fight against Trinamul”. He will launch the party’s campaign for the May 30 elections at Sealdah on Tuesday, a day ahead of Mamata’s Shyambazar kick-off.

“If our traditional vote bank backs our nominees, our candidates are bound to get elected,” said state Congress working president Pradip Bhattacharya.

General secretary Abdul Mannan asserted that there was no erosion in the party’s traditional support base. “In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, voters went with Trinamul because we had the alliance. So, Mamata’s claim that she had performed better than us does not sound logical,” he claimed.

Mannan is overseeing the elections to 12 municipalities in Hooghly district.

“It is matter of life and death for us,” said central Calcutta leader Pradip Ghosh. “Pranabda has given us the chance to test the water. We have got a rare chance to exert ourselves. So, we have to perform better at any cost.”

However, despite the zeal to fight Trinamul, the Congress is also ready to hug it after the polls to the 81 civic bodies.

Rao indicated as much when he spoke at length about the necessity of a post-poll alliance with Trinamul.

“Despite being locked in an electoral fight with Trinamul, our main objective is to keep the CPM at bay. Keeping this ground reality in mind, our councillors will be free to join forces with Trinamul to form civic boards,” he said.

Trinamul leaders refused to attach any importance to either the Congress resolve to fight or the plan to patch up. “Going by the Lok Sabha results, it is clear that people have their faith in us. What the Congress is saying doesn’t carry any importance for us,” a Trinamul general secretary said.