In West Bengal, ‘India’s allies’ have their own drum, their own raga
Kolkata (IANS). With each passing day, it is becoming clear that the opposition Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (India) is unlikely to take concrete shape in West Bengal.
The events of the past week have made it even more clear that the concept of the ruling Trinamool Congress, the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress coming together on a single platform is just a pipe dream from the perspective of West Bengal.
On the one hand, in the recently concluded Central Committee meeting, the CPI(M) made it clear that it would not accept the concept of India in West Bengal.
The Central Committee was virtually forced to take such a decision as the representatives of West Bengal in the Committee protested against the presence of the party’s general secretary Sitaram Yechury in the same frame on the dais with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the Patna and Bengaluru meetings of the opposition parties. The leadership was apprised of growing grievances among grassroots party workers.
The next day, the Chief Minister also gave some clear signals on the same lines when he accused Mapaka and the Congress of maintaining double standards at the state and national level on the All India alliance issue.
He also said that while efforts are on to forge a grand anti-BJP alliance at the national level, there is a secret pact between the Congress and the CPI(M) against the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.
Banerjee said on Thursday, “They should be ashamed of themselves. There should be a minimum of political honesty. Every party should follow a certain stream of political ideology. If they continue with the same strategy, I am also compelled to say this.” Will happen that Trinamool Congress is also against Congress and BJP in West Bengal.
Meanwhile, state Congress president and five-time Lok Sabha member of the party Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury continued his scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress and the ruling party’s attack by the chief minister against leaders and workers of opposition parties.
The state leadership of both the CPI(M) and the Congress have been projecting the Trinamool Congress as an indirect beneficiary of the BJP.
The saffron leadership in the state, especially Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Shubhendu Adhikari, has continued to call on grassroots Congress and CPI(M) workers to either join the BJP or form an independent platform against the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.
Political observers and analysts are of the view that the concept of shaping an ‘India’ alliance in West Bengal was impractical from the very beginning and it is becoming more evident with each passing day.
The CPI(M), traditionally a staunch political rival of the Trinamool Congress, may never have a seat-sharing arrangement with it and that too at a time when the party has started seeing a revival of its traditional vote bank.
Observers believe that keeping in mind the sentiments of the grassroots party workers and continuing with the dedicated vote bank, the CPI(M) leadership may also talk in a soft tone about the Trinamool Congress.
As far as the Congress is concerned, the seat-sharing agreement with the Trinamool Congress would mean that it would be able to contest only two seats, Malda (South) and Berhampur, which have sitting Congress MPs.
On the other hand, the seat-sharing arrangement with the CPI(M) will put the Congress in a better bargaining position and get at least seven seats.
Furthermore, since the Trinamool Congress was formed in a breakaway from the Congress and in view of the large scale carnage in the recently concluded panchayat elections in the state, the tie-up with the state’s ruling party would draw on the dedicated vote bank of the country’s oldest national party. can have a negative impact.
Political observers believe that as far as the Trinamool Congress is concerned, since West Bengal is its only bastion, the leadership would like to contest at least 40 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state and sacrifice a maximum of two seats for the Congress. . This equation of seat sharing does not seem practical here.
