India, April 26 -- The highly anticipated West Bengal Assembly elections have laid bare clear fault lines within the opposition INDIA bloc, as its constituent parties pursue markedly different strategies on the ground. While the Congress has opted to contest on its own in a number of constituencies, several other alliance partners have lined up behind Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), resulting in a divided opposition front across the state.

Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, deepened this rift during his campaigning in the first phase of polling. Speaking at a public rally in Raiganj in Uttar Dinajpur district, Gandhi not only took aim at the Bharatiy...