Vaishali Dalmiya, the daughter of late BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, former India player and Bengal cricket captain laxmi Ratan Shukla, ex-Bengal Minister and expelled CPI(M) leader Abdul Rezzak Mollah are some latest names that could soon join Trinamool Congress and contest the coming Assembly elections.
Though none of these personalities were forthcoming with any kind of assertion sources close to all said they had preliminary rounds of talks with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who had advised them to stay tuned with party affairs and wait for instructions.
While Shukla who retired from first class cricket a few days ago said, he had spoke to the Chief Minister and sought her blessings Dalmiya made two very significant comments.
First she replied in the affirmative when asked to comment whether she was joining the Trinamool Congress and then said “time will tell.”
Mollah who was a powerful Minister in both Jyoti Basu and Buddheb Bhattacharjee cabinets before being expelled from the party on charges of “anti-party activities” said he was thinking in terms of contesting on a Trinamool Congress ticket.
“I will see the prospects of winning. If I see that there are chances of a victory if I fight on Trinamool ticket then I will definitely contest on Trinamool ticket,” he said. Mollah had on Tuesday met the Chief Minister at her State secretariat office at Nabanna.
Meanwhile in a related development the CPI(M) on Wednesday once again raised the issue of an alliance with the Congress egging on the tir-colour party for an early decision.
“We have already made our opinion clear about an alliance. If the like-minded parties like the Congress are to come with us in dislodging Trinamool from Bengal and BJP from Delhi then they have to decide soon on whether they want to come with us in a larger left-democratic-secular alliance,” Md Salim said on Wednesday.
State Opposition leader Dr Suryakanto Mishra had made similar remarks from a public rally in Howrah a few days ago leading the Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury to say that the high command would take the final call before insisting “in any case we will not form a front with the Trinamool Congress.”
He also said “whatever be the leaders’ views the people in the grassroots from both the left and the Congress have already made an alliance.”
