Mamata call to leaders signals problems with INDIA adjustments

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has asked Murshidabad leaders to start preparing for three seats in the district, which has three Lok Sabha constituencies – Jangipur, Baharampur and Murshidabad – and two constituencies in South Maldah. Of these, Baharampur is the stronghold of senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is the incumbent MP, and has lately been a thorn in the West Bengal chief minister’s side.

Sources said the TMC has already communicated that it is ready to give only two seats to the Congress. But, with Mamata asking leaders to prepare for three seats in the Congress MP’s turf, it speaks volumes about the TMC’s role in the opposition INDIA bloc.

Party insiders told News18 that the TMC is looking at contesting from all 42 seats in the state, but what does this mean for the alliance in Bengal ahead of the Lok Sabha elections?

The West Bengal chief minister held a meeting with Murshidabad leaders at her residence. The party’s national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, was also present. All eyes were on this meeting as it was centred around the district from where Chowdhury is an MP.

Chowdhury had recently sparked speculation over the future of Congress-TMC ties in Bengal under the INDIA bloc banner, when he had said the grand old party can do without Mamata’s mercy and win seats on its terms. He had also taken out a rally in Kolkata against the Mamata Banerjee government.

In the previous Lok Sabha polls, the Congress captured one seat while the TMC won two seats in Murshidabad. Chowdhury won in Baharampur and has been an MP from this seat more than four times.

Sources said one MLA wanted to raise the issue if Chowdhury will be a factor, but Mamata ignored the question and, without taking names, said: “He is no factor.”

The TMC has made it clear that holding hands with the Congress in Bengal will be on the regional party’s terms. Now that the Congress has demanded six seats, the TMC only wants to give it two. Mamata had set the first deadline for seat-sharing talks to be December 31, but the Congress has failed to even keep to subsequent deadlines.

Sources in the TMC said now its top leadership has told workers to get ready to fight from 42 seats. Murshidabad leader Humayun Kabir came out of the meeting and said the TMC will win all three seats in the district.

Political experts said the alliance picture will become clear by next week as senior Congress leader KC Venugopal is visiting Siliguri to discuss Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’.

Gandhi is expected to reach West Bengal on January 25, but will he oppose the Mamata Banerjee-led government? That could be a clear indicator of where the wind is blowing in Bengal, with regard to the alliance. But, a marriage between the Congress and TMC is unlikely in Bengal.

Neither TMC workers nor those from the Congress want to come to an understanding, but all eyes are on Mamata and the Congress high command’s decision. But, it looks like the “alliance ball” is now in the Congress court.