The Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance is not functioning well in Bengal, never mindthe media hype. To begin with, Murshidabad Congress supremo Adhir Choudhury, MP, stayed away from all meetings and declared he would see to it that the alliance did nottake effect in Murshidabad. In view of his undoubted following and strength in the sevenAssembly constituency areas in the district, the TMC/Congress are having a hard timecountering him. In Malda too, despite formally putting heavyweight Ghani Khan Choudhury in charge, Trinamool leaders are still posing problems by backing this or that candidate for particular seats in the district.