CPM state secretary Md Salim has told party leaders that they should explain to the people that the Trinamul Congress was compelled to join the national alliance against the BJP and chief minister Mamata Banerjee had initially tried to break the unity by floating a third front with a few non-BJP parties.

Salim was referring to a slew of meetings that Mamata had held with a few non-BJP and non-Congress chief ministers, including Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik.

The CPM state secretary's effort at presenting a counter-narrative comes in the backdrop of criticism the party is facing from a section of its sympathisers and supporters for being a constituent of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) that has Trinamul, which is its arch-rival in Bengal.

Sources said to clear the air of confusion and counter the BJP's propaganda about the coming together of two bitter rivals in Bengal, Salim told party leaders at the two-day state committee meeting that INDIA was not propelled by Trinamul but "an alliance that was the fruition of the CPM's continuous efforts to unite the Opposition against the saffron camp".

Ever since the formation of INDIA, the BJP and its IT cell had been trying to win over Left voters by saying Trinamul and the CPM are hand-in-glove with each other, said a CPM state committee leader. The CPM leader added that "Salim-da was eager to break the saffron narrative".

The CPM does find itself on the back foot after its general secretary Sitaram Yechury was seen on the same dais as Mamata at the July 18 Opposition meeting in Bangalore. Questions were raised within the party on whether the comrades were supposed to shake hands with the Trinamul or not.

The BJP quickly took up the issue and claimed that Left supporters must side with them since the CPM and its allies have bridged the differences with Trinamul.

Although both Yechury and Salim publicly said there would be no compromise with Trinamul in Bengal, the clarification has so far not percolated to the grassroots at several places.

On the concluding day of the two-day state committee meeting on Wednesday, Salim said it was imperative that the people clearly understood the party's stand that it would continue its fight against both Trinamul and the BJP in Bengal.

"Salim-da asked us to counter the narrative that we are now in cahoots with the Trinamul. This is a narrative that is being fed by the RSS-BJP-Trinamul," the state committee member said.