Bengal Congress president Somen Mitra said on Tuesday that it considered the CPM as an ally in its resistance to Trinamul and the BJP.

Surjya Kanta Mishra, the secretary of the Bengal CPM, had said on Monday that the Congress was the “only alternative” to the RSS-BJP parivar and it should be voted wherever the Left party lacked strength.

Addressing a rally in Salt Lake near here, Mitra said he was pleased to see the “overflow of emotions” regarding the prospects of alliance with his party. But he also urged the Communists not to rock the alliance boat on a whim.

“While the gesture is indeed commendable and welcome, what we seek is consistency. We have been consistent and clear in our stand on you (the CPM). We fought the 2016 Assembly polls shoulder to shoulder. But then, you suddenly walked away. Let there be no such deceit, please,” said Mitra.

The Congress organised the rally outside the CGO complex, which houses the CBI office, in Salt Lake to protest the “midnight coup” in the agency by the Narendra Modi government.

On Monday, the CPM had conducted the rally at the same venue on the same issue. Mishra had issued the statement at that rally.

After the CPM party congress in Hyderabad approved an “understanding” with the Congress, a majority view had emerged in a CPM state committee meeting in end August in favour of seat sharing with the 132-year-old party for the Lok Sabha elections, said sources in Alimuddin Street.

“We consider you an ally, but you cannot come and go as you please,” said Mitra, who went on to question Mamata Banerjee’s “silence” on issues such as the CBI drama and the alleged graft in the Rafale deal. He pointed out her participation in the BJP-led central government in 1998 even after the Babri Masjid demolition of 1992 and accused her of helping the saffron camp gain a foothold in Bengal.

In a willy-nilly admission that the opinion of the state unit on alliances will ultimately be taken by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Mitra urged the Marxists to take it up directly with him.

“We will convey your message, but you too must speak to him (Rahul), inform him of your opinion on this,” he said.

Sources in the state leadership of the Congress said the party was hurt with the CPM’s whimsical withdrawal from the truck after the debacle of the 2016 polls, more so after the Marxists refused to oblige Rahul when he pledged support for CPM general-secretary Sitaram Yechury’s candidature for the Rajya Sabha.

“Not only did they not send Yechury but also fielded candidates against us in two Rajya Sabha elections from Bengal, which Pradip Bhattacharya and Abhishek Manu Singhvi had to win with Trinamul support.