This story is from July 7, 2018

Bengal Cong split on allies at Rahul meet

Bengal Cong split on allies at Rahul meet
New Delhi/Kolkata: West Bengal Congress leaders facing an existential crisis spoke in many voices to Congress president Rahul Gandhi over the party’s roadmap in West Bengal and its poll alliance for the coming Lok Sabha polls, during individual interactions at the Rakabgunj Road party office that continued for four hours on Friday.
Most of the Congress leaders from party bastion Malda, led by senior MP Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury, took a U-turn from their pro-Left stance in the 2016 assembly polls and argued for an alliance with Trinamool following a BJP upswing in the district in the recently held panchayat polls.
Malda Congress president and MP Mousam Noor and the Congress MLA from Baishanabnagar couldn’t make it to the meeting but they conveyed that an alliance with Trinamool seemed more “realistic.”
Coming under pressure from BJP in the Kolkata North Lok Sabha constituency, Congress veteran Somen Mitra held it was not possible for his party to fight the elections alone. “The high command has to decide whether to go with Trinamool or Left,” Mitra said. Congress has already lost 11 MLAs to Trinamool while a fresh group of Congress MLAs such as Mainul Haque from Farakka are set to join Bengal’s ruling party.
Deepa Dasmunshi from Uttar Dinajpur and Manoj Mitra from Murshidabad, however, chose the other route because they felt an alliance with Trinamool after panchayat polls would lead to further erosion in Congress ranks. Opposition leader in the Bengal assembly Abdul Mannan too ruled out any Trinamool alliance. “I have already made my view clear to the party leadership on how the ruling Trinamool is aiding BJP to grow in the state and that the growing communal politics in the state has to be resisted,” said Mannan, who was instrumental in the last Congress-Left alliance in the state.
West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury remained non-committal. “Rahulji didn’t ask me about the possible alliance. I, therefore, leave it to the Congress high command to take the final call,” he said.
Most leaders from Congress turfs — Malda, Murshidabad — urging to go with Trinamool was a new input for the Congress president. Even party leader Nepal Mahato from Purulia — who had held the Congress fort there for years — was not very confident of thwarting the BJP challenge.

Those who argued to go with Trinamool held that the support from the minorities Congress enjoys runs the risk of going to the ruling Trinamool as was evident in the Maheshtala assembly bypoll. Others arguing against the alliance felt Congress supporters fighting against Trinamool atrocities might shift to BJP if the party tied up with Trinamool.
However, Deepa Das Munshi raised a pertinent question, saying no party would be interested to tie up with Congress unless it improved its individual strength. As of date, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, who has proposed a one-on-one fight against BJP at the national level, hasn’t shown any interest to take Congress on board in the fight against BJP in Bengal.
It is also uncertain how far the Left would go to join hands with Congress after CPM Central Committee turned down the Bengal unit’s electoral tactic in the 2016 assembly polls.
Rahul now has to carve out the party’s stance for Bengal on his own, keeping in mind that his party took Trinamool support twice to send Abhishek Manu Singhvi to Rajya Sabha.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA