The Congress minder for Bengal Jitin Prasada told the state leadership on Thursday to go ahead with work on formalising the alliance with the Left, including seat-sharing.

Prasada was at a meeting here where state party leaders sought a formal go-ahead from the high command for the alliance with the Left in the run-up to Bengal elections.

According to sources present in a meeting with him, Prasada urged the state leadership not to wait for the formal approval — which, according to him, was only a matter of time.

Prasada is currently in Calcutta on his first visit since assuming charge as the party’s Bengal minder. He met the chiefs of various committees and other senior office-bearers during the day, before going into a huddle with the election committee headed by state party president Adhir Chowdhury.

A senior Congress MLA said every leader spoke in favour of the alliance with the Left. “Outside of three districts, our party has no scope of putting up a decent fight on its own,” the MLA said.

A party veteran said Prasada promised that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi would devote a lot of time to Bengal in the next few months.