The proposed grand alliance between the Congress and Trinamul Congress in West Bengal has hit a major roadblock with Bengal PCC chief Manas Bhunia rushing to New Delhi with a list of 294 Congress candidates. The Congress leadership, including party master strategist Pranab Mukherjee, are upset with Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee’s sudden move to announce the list of Trinamul candidates on Friday and leave only 64 Assembly berths to the Congress. The Congress has now left it to party president Sonia Gandhi to take a final call.
Of the 294 Assembly berths in the state, the Trinamul intends to contest 228, leaving 64 seats for the Congress and two for SUCI. While the Congress has 19 MLAs, the Trinamul has 36. A head-on contest between the Congress and Trinamul Congress could benefit the Left Front, which at this juncture is staring at the stark possibility of electoral defeat after over three decades of power in Bengal.
Congress MP from Baharampur Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, while speaking to this newspaper, said, “Mamata must apologise to Sonia Gandhi for breaking the trust of this alliance,” adding, “Nothing short of an apology can save this alliance.”
Sources disclosed that Ms Banerjee’s sudden move to announce the list of candidates on Friday took the Congress leadership by surprise. “Discussions were on. It was decided to wait for the arrival of Mrs Gandhi, who was out of the country. But she simply went ahead and announced the list,” a senior Congress functionary said. However, the party has decided to abide by Mrs Gandhi’s decision. The Congress president will take a look at three options — whether the party should accept the 64 seats given by the Trinamul, demand additional berths or adhere to its original demand for 90 seats.
Sources, however, disclosed that the main flash point was Ms Banerjee’s refusal to give Congress sitting MLA Ram Pyari Ram, who has won seven consecutive times, a ticket from the Kolkata (Port) seat. “There is no way we are going to take this insult or accept the decision,” state unit leaders said.
A report being prepared by the Congress’ Bengal unit to be presented to the party high command indicated that while the Congress spared seats for the Trinamul in its own strongholds, the alliance partner “did not reciprocate in a similar manner”. It was pointed out that “though the Trinamul Congress had no presence in north Bengal, a traditional Congress stronghold, the party has decided to spare nearly 10 seats for her. However, in her strongholds, which include South and North 24 Parganas, which have 63 Assembly seats, Ms Banerjee spared only two seats for the Congress. Also, of the 11 Assembly berths in Kolkata, the Trinamul refused to spare a single seat for its alliance partner. It was claimed that the Congress has a nearly six per cent vote share in Kolkata alone.
A senior party functionary said the Congress has a vote share of over 16 per cent in Bengal and that Ms Banerjee had to rely on the Congress for her performance in the last General Election.