A three-day AICC plenary session beginning in the national capital on December 18, is expected see a frontal attack on the Left Front to keep the ally — Trinamul Congress in good humour ahead of the West Bengal and Kerala Assembly polls.
It had attacked the Left Front in the 81st party plenary session held in Bengaluru on March 17and 18, 2001 but diluted its tone during the Hyderabad party plenary held in January 2006. This was because the UPA-I was depending on the Left front’s crucial outside support.
In the Bengluru plenary session, the party’s resolution on political affairs said “In West Bengal, the struggle is against the venality and violence which have characterised two decades of Left Front rule. The Congress resolves to fight against Left `sectarianism and rank communalism’ of the BJP simultaneously.”
But in Hyderabad (82nd plenary), its political resolution said “The Indian National Congress is conscious that in some states its main political opponents are parties that are supporting it at the Centre. As the Congress president has said, there is no contradiction. National challenges demand cooperation and coordination among secular parties. But in states like Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura,there is no question of any understanding or compromise. In these states, the Indian National Congress welcomes an alliance with any party that has no truck, direct or indirect, with the BJP.”
About Tamil Nadu, the Bengaluru session says “The priority tasks of the Congress is to dislodge the unholy DMK-BJP combine. There is nothing in the history or goals of these two parties — the one atheist, the other saffron — to justify the wholly unprincipled alliance they have put together to prop up each other in the state and the Centre. The DMK government has been `corrupt and nepotistic’. Nothing seems to have changed since Justice Sarkaria investigated the sins of the first Karunanidhi government. The Jain Commission has confirmed the sins of the second Karunanidhi government. It is now the turn of the voters of Tamil Nadu to punish the DMK for the sins of the third Karunanidhi government.” Now, it will be interesting to see whether the Congress joins the DMK in attacking the AIADMK led by Ms Jayallithaa and will it be reflected in a political resolution to be placed before the coming 83rd pary plenary session being held in Delhi.
West Bengal and Tamil Nadu Assembly elections are going to be historic. While the Trinamul Congress is confident of making a history, the Congress too is keen to share power with it after over three decades if the two together can replace t he Left Front.