Kolkata/IBNS: West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday said his party is keen to fight future elections in the state in an alliance with the Left to take on the Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), media reports said.

Addressing a press conference at Congress' state headquarters, Chowdhury said members of both the parties at the lower level want to fight the elections in an alliance even if some top leaders think otherwise.

The Left fielded no candidate in the recently concluded Sagardighi bypoll which was contested by the Congress. The result is yet to be declared.

On Sagardighi, Chowdhury said, "I had personally requested Biman Bose and Md. Salim (top CPI-M leaders) not to field any candidate. We are grateful to them for fighting the election with us."

This is not the first time Congress and Left had struck an understanding of seats.

Earlier, the two parties had fought the assembly elections in 2016 and 2021 in an alliance but the strategy had backfired.

In both the elections, the Trinamool returned to power with an ever bigger majority.

In the 2021 polls, the Left and Congress were unable to even win a single seat.