Sunday, December 18 2005 16:03 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L K Advani today (Dec 18,2005) said that irrespective of whether the proposed 'grand alliance' as mooted by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, took off or not, democracy must be restored in West Bengal and the ensuing assembly election in the state would be a challenge for the Election Commission like Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir.

'' Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M) is a grave threat to democracy in West Bengal where the party was in power for an uninterrupted 30 years when political change had taken place everywhere in the country. The very fact that a one-party rule was continuing for about 30 years was a pointer that democracy does not exist here'', Advani told a convention of Trinamool Youth Congress convention at the packed Netaji Indoor Stadium here.

Turning to the proposal for a 'grand alliance', Advani said in the presence of Mamata Banerjee, ''Whether it takes off or not, I am interested in whether democracy will be restored in the state or not. If Congress comes, we will welcome them, else, we will fight without them''.

In an obvious reference to Defense minister Pranab Mukherjee declining Mamata's invitation to attend the convention, he said it was not necessary that all those present on this platform should have similar views but 'our common objective is to see the end of the Left Front rule'.

He said that Election Commission did a wonderful job in ensuring a free and fair poll in Bihar and the Commission had assured an National Democratic Alliance (NDA) delegation which met the EC recently thatJ5 would do its best to discharge its responsibilities effectively in coming assembly poll in West Bengal too.

Former Union minister and Janata Dal (JD) United (U) leader Digvijay Singh was also present in the convention.

Notwithstanding Congress' refusal to attend the convention sharing platform with BJP, senior party leader and former state Chief Minister Siddharta Shankar Ray was present.

This prompted Advani to say, ''When Mamtaji had invited me, I could not imagine that people like S S Ray will come. It has a special significance. This in itself is a message to the people in Bengal''.

The BJP president said that it was not unusual for the Congress to stay away from the meeting due to its political compulsion when it had taken support of the CPI-M to run the Central Government. Advani also referred to NDA's victory in recent assembly election in Bihar and asked the people in West Bengal to show courage to exercise their franchise.

''If the people cannot show courage, only Election Commission cannot do anything'', he said.

He said that India has a prestige in the whole world because it has always been a vibrant democracy where the people decided which party would rule.

''But it cannot said in case of Bengal today,'' he said.