KOLKATA - Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) senior leader L.K. Advani Friday said the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) have an ‘unwritten agreement’ in West Bengal and in national politics.

‘There is an unwritten understanding between the Congress and the CPI-M. In West Bengal, the Congress is the ‘B’ team of the ruling CPI-M. And in the national politics, the CPI-M is the ‘B’ team of the Congress,’ Advani said at a BJP party convention here.

‘It is a kind of a exhibition wrestling. They have decided that at times they will raise slogans against each other but ultimately do nothing,’ he said.

Advani lashed out at the ruling CPI-M and criticised the state’s development index, saying that West Bengal was lagging behind in every possible aspect.

‘People of West Bengal want a change but the problem is they do not have a clear political alternative. They only have a totalitarian political option which is running the government for years,’ he said.

‘People of West Bengal sent 35 Left candidates to the Lok Sabha in 2004, assuming they would oppose the Congress at the centre. But they instead supported the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance in parliament,’ Advani said.

‘The CPI-M never raised any issue in the interest of the common people, be it unemployment or poverty. But they quarrelled with the Congress on why the government was getting closer to the US,’ Advani said.