Peeved with the state Congress leadership’s “intransigence” on seat-sharing negotiations, Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has asked her partymen to be ready to go it alone in the crucial Assembly polls in West Bengal if the Congress does not fall in line.
Trinamul Congress insiders revealed there was every possibility that Ms Banerjee would unilaterally announce the names of her party candidates, leaving aside 60-odd seats for the Congress, after waiting for two more days for a positive response from the Congress.
“The Congress is testing Didi’s patience. She will wait till Sunday. Thereafter she will announce a take-it-or-leave-it list. If the Congress accepts this, the alliance will survive, otherwise it may collapse,” a Trinamul Congress MP said on condition of anonymity.
He recalled that even ahead of the 2001 Assembly polls, she had given the Congress less than 60 seats. “In 2001, Didi was not so powerful and even then she had not succumbed to Congress pressure and had spared only 59 seats. How can the Congress arm-twist her into parting with more seats today when she is on the threshold of becoming chief minister by ousting the CPI(M) from power?” he asked.
Significantly, Ms Banerjee had followed exactly this script during the last Kolkata Municipal Corporation election. After several rounds of tortuous seat-sharing talks in which Congress leaders were unyielding, she went ahead and announced the list of Trinamul Congress candidates, leaving only the seats she had originally offered to the Congress unannounced. When the Congress rejected this, she fielded candidates in all 141 KMC wards. The alliance collapsed, and the two parties contested independently. The Trinamul Congress captured the prestigious Kolkata civic board, routing the Left Front.
Sources said that the Trinamul Congress has virtually finalised its list for North Bengal districts, including Malda, North Dinajpur and Cooch Behar, which go to the polls in the first phase on April 18. Filing of nominations for the first phase will begin on March 21. “The list for Murshidabad is also ready,” the Trinamul Congress MP claimed.
Ms Banerjee, however, is still optimistic the stalemate over seats could be resolved with Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s intervention. Her close confidant, Union minister of state for shipping Mukul Roy, kept a close watch on Mrs Gandhi’s meeting with state Congress president Manas Bhunia on Thursday. She also met her Malda and Murshidabad district party chiefs, Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury and Adhir Chowdhury. The Congress, which has been marginalised in large parts of the state, is still strong in these districts.
“Mrs Gandhi told me that an alliance was the need of the hour. I conveyed to her the sentiments and aspirations of Congress workers in the state. I also told her she was our supreme leader and we would abide by whatever decision she took,” Mr Bhunia said after the meeting, adding that the Trinamul Congress should show “minimum generosity” in sparing seats for the Congress. Mr Bhunia also hinted he may accept fewer than 98 seats provided the Congress was given “quality” seats where its chances of winning were bright.
The deadlock could be broken if both the Congress and the Trinamul Congress agreed on a middle ground. “ If the Congress scales down its demand from 98 to, say, 70-72 seats, and Didi accepts it, then the two parties can stitch up an alliance,” the Trinamul Congress MP added.