Congress legislators in West Bengal have been made to sign an undertaking “swearing unqualified allegiance” to the party, reported The Indian Express. The undertaking also read that the legislators will not indulge any "anti-party activity". The legislators, district presidents, state party leaders and state party chief Adhir Chowdhury held a meeting and decided to make its members sign the declaration on stamp paper.

"It is not a bond which we have forced people (to sign) to take action against them if they fail to live up to the conditions. It is more of a voluntary pledge by partymen as a gesture of their allegiance. As far as voicing their concerns, there is and will always be ample scope for it within the party because there can always be disagreements. Just that they should not tom-tom it," Chowdhury said.

“I do swear my unqualified allegiance to Indian National Congress led by Hon’ble Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi Ji and Hon’ble Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi Ji,” the pledge states, among other things. The Congress got 44 seats in the recent Assembly elections in the state. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress was voted back to power with 211 seats in the 294-seat assembly.