Putting all speculation at rest about a possible break-up of alliance between the Congress and the Trinamul Congress, senior Congress leader and Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday made it clear that “the Congress would form an alliance with the Trinamul Congress at any cost” to fight against the Left Front in the coming Assembly polls in the state.
“We still have an alliance with the Trinamul Congress at the Centre. The Trinamul Congress is an important ally of the Congress in the UPA-II government. First let the alliance be formed for the Assembly elections and then ponder whether the alliance is made out of dignity of the Congress or at the cost of it,” Mr Mukherjee replied when he was asked whether the Congress would form an alliance with the Trinamul Congress at the cost of its dignity.
Earlier, in the extended executive meeting of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC), Mr Mukherjee virtually rapped the section of the party leaders who were against forming an alliance with the Trinamul Congress for the Assembly elections.
According to sources, during the meeting, party MP Deepa Dasmunshi, a staunch critic of Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, raised a point of dissent: “Will it be an effective alliance? What will we do if they (read: Trinamul Congress) field dummy candidates or SUCI (an ally of the Trinamul Congress in the last Lok Sabha polls) candidates against us to foil our chances?”
Reacting sharply to Ms Dasmunshi, Mr Mukherjee said: “We have had a lot of experiments in the civic polls and the panchayat elections and we know its results. An alliance will be formed with the Trinamul Congress for the Assembly elections at any cost.”
Giving a strong signal to the state Congress leaders and workers that the Congress high command is in favour of forming the alliance with the Trinamul Congress, Mr Mukherjee took Ms Banerjee along with him in a special flight to New Delhi in the evening.
Mr Mukherjee earlier also rallied behind Ms Banerjee on her movement against the alleged land scam at Rajarhat. On the question of the Oppositions’ demand of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe on the Adarsh Housing Society scam in Maharashtra, Mr Mukherjee said, “We can too ask for a JPC probe on Rajarhat and on recent developments at the Karnataka Assembly.”