In a new political turn, the Congress retreated from its decision to field a candidate against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Bhabanipur bypoll, on Wednesday, 8 September, news agency PTI reported.
The party had promised to field a candidate against the Trinamool Congress leader only a day prior to the new announcement.
Speaking to reporters in Baharampur, state Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury stated that the party would not bring forth a candidate against Banerjee or campaign against her in the upcoming bypolls on 30 September, PTI reported.
Chowdhury had previously advocated not contesting against Banerjee in the polls as a way of showing 'political courtesy', the report added.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sujan Chakraborty reacted to the U-turn and said, “We will field a candidate as those opposed to the TMC and BJP needed an alternative. We cannot ask the Congress to change its decision," PTI reported.
(With inputs from PTI)