Wednesday, April 5 2006 14:34 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Electoral allies in West Bengal assembly polls, Trinamool Congress and BJP, are having differences on the issue of infiltration, a major election plank of the saffron party.

BJP defines infiltrators as Bangladeshi Muslims entering the country illegally and refers to such Hindus, Buddhists and Christians as 'refugees'. The saffron party says such Hindus, Buddhists and Christians are victims of 'atrocity and torture' in Bangladesh.

However, ally Trinamool Congress, apparently to woo Muslim voters, does not favour such a classification. The party has also opposed inclusion of names of a large number of infiltrators in the electoral rolls and accused CPI-M for it.

"We have talked about the infiltration problem but not mentioned any community," Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee said.

The BJP leadership sidestepped the issue when asked about the differences between the two poll partners on the issue.

Trinamool Congress and BJP are two separate political parties and it is not always necessary that the two parties have identical views on every issue, BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley, also the party's central election observer for the state, said.