By Ashis Biswas
KOLKATA; In Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) signalled its intent to achieve national party status in September 2012, by quitting the UPA II Ministry over petrol price rise. Soon, it broke off its state alliance with the Congress. It fought the Panchayat, and Lok Sabha polls successfully on its own, amidst complaints of widespread rigging and intimidation by all opposition parties.
Last week, barely two years ago, the TMC was calling for a new alliance in Bengal, to fight the resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)! The wheel came full circle for TMC Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose call for talks on a proposed anti BJP line up that would include the CPI(M), stunned her friends and critics alike.
Ms Banerjee’s visceral hatred for the CPI(M) has pathological dimensions, but not without reason. The Left had not only humiliated her for years, but its goons tried
