Sunday, December 25 2005 20:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Pranab Mukherjee will hold discussion with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on the possibility of formation of a grand alliance for the Assembly elections scheduled next year, Union minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said today (Dec 25,2005).

''Mamata wrote a letter to Pranab babu. He said he will talk to her after the Parliament session ends on December 23. Hopefully, the talks conference here in the presence of Adhir Chowdhury, the MP from Behrampore, who was released on bail yesterday (Dec 24,2005).

On reports that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked her party unit in West Bengal not to oppose the Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M) led Left Front, Dasmunshi said, ''She has not said any such thing. In West Bengal, we will fight the Communists. Our party wants to be an alternative (to the Left Front) here.''

Asked about reports that WBPCC chief Pranab Mukherjee had recently complimented Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee for the economic progress made by the state, Dasmunshi said, ''As the Union Information Minister, I can say that West Bengal is a pathetic state. All this talk about investment in the state is a whitewash. No official report has said that the state has made any advancement economically.''

He said that although Chowdhury has been released, the campaign of the Congress against the CPI (M), as announced by the WBPCC chief Pranab Mukherjee, would continue.

''Adhir is our inspiration. We want him to tour as many districts as possible,'' he said.