The Hindu Business Line : Congress plays second fiddle to Trinamool in West Bengal

“We have included representatives from all castes, class, creed, community and profession. Lawyer, justice, teacher, journalist, adivasi, women… everyone is represented,” Ms Mamata Banerjee said.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Kolkata, March 12 After much wrangling over seat sharing, the Congress and the Trinamool Congress have finally come to an understanding and will fight the elections together in West Bengal.

For the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the State, the Trinamool Congress will field 27 candidates, and the Congress 14, while one seat has been set aside for the Trinamool ally, the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI).

Releasing the list of her party candidates here on Thursday, the Trinamool supremo, Ms Mamata Banerjee, said: “We have decided to fight the Communist Party of India (Marxist) together.” She said the new partnership would strengthen secularism, unity, progress and development. “The CPI(M) has dug its own grave here. Let it lie there in peace.”

Five of Trinamool’s candidates are women, including Ms Banerjee. “We have included representatives from all castes, class, creed, community and profession. Lawyer, justice, teacher, journalist, adivasi, women… everyone is represented,” Ms Banerjee said.

The Congress is expected to release its list of candidates shortly. Apart from trying to retain Darjeeling, Raigunj, Malda, Jangipur, Behrampur and Murshidabad, it will contest for Jalapaiguri, Durgapur, Arambagh, Jhargram, Bolpur, Purulia, Bankura, and the newly created Malda (North) seats.

The AICC general secretary, Mr K Keshav Rao, made it clear at a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday that the objective of the understanding, or ‘friendship’ as he preferred to put it, was to defeat the CPI(M). “We would like to have contested in all the 42 seats, but we had to keep in mind the larger perspective — that is, to jointly fight the CPI(M).”

Though the Congress and the Trinamool agreed to join forces as early as March 1, the tie-up remained deadlocked over seat sharing. The partnership was on the verge of collapse when on March 10 Ms Banerjee gave the Congress a two-day ultimatum to accept her arrangement. Else, her party would go it alone.

With the formation of the Third Front imminent, and Trinamool’s successes in last year’s Panchayat elections and the recent Bishnupur Assembly by-poll, the Congress made the deadline and sealed the understanding on March 11 night, without seeking any changes to the Trinamool proposal. The concessions the Congress has made to the Trinamool on “winnable” seats — though in the last polls it won six seats against Trinamool’s lone victory — indicates the party’s willingness to play second fiddle to its new ally. In West Bengal, the Trinamool is clearly the stronger force, being the main Opposition in the Assembly.

The Trinamool Congress plans to proceed with its campaign after the March 15 meeting Ms Banerjee is to have with the West Bengal Pradesh Congress president, Mr Pranab Mukherjee. “But before that we will go to Nandigram on March 14 to observe Genocide Day (in memory of the victims of the Nandigram violence on March 14, 2007),” Ms Banerjee said.

West Bengal’s ruling CPI(M)-led Left Front has been wary of this ‘friendship’. Asked about the possibility of a tie-up between the Trinamool and the Congress, CPI(M) patriarch and former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu had said that, “It will then be a tough battle.”

More Stories on : Politics | West Bengal

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Centre plans second stimulus for auto sector

With time running out, oil refiners await compensation package

Smooth flight, rough landing

Congress plays second fiddle to Trinamool in West Bengal

New Maharashtra IT policy may benefit hardware, animation verticals