In Bengal, the Congress seems torn between the proverbial Twiddledum and Twiddledee. The division between pro-Trinamool Congress and pro-left leaders in the Congress party is increasing by the day, inside sources say.
The leaders seem to be divided in three distinct groups on the issue of a pre-poll alliance with “secular” forces like the left or the Trinamool Congress.
While senior leaders like Abdul Mannan — who has been the Congress’ main spearhead against Trinamool on the chit fund issue — Somen Mitra and even Arunabha Ghosh are backing the idea of going with the left, a second group led by former Pradesh Congress president Manas Bhunia want the party to hold Trinamool Congress’ hands to check the rise of the BJP in Bengal.
A third group, mainly led by current PCC president and MP Adhir Chowdhury, wants the party to adopt an Eklaa Chalo policy. The two other big leaders like Pradip Bhattacharya and Deepa Dasmunshi seem still to be undecided over the alliance issue.
Bengal Assembly elections are likely to take place by April-May next year and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee has already blown her poll bugle from a mammoth rally on Tuesday whence she announced her own ekla chalo policy challenging the left, BJP and the Congress in equally strong voice.
Mannan and Ghosh had been working closely with the left on issues like the Saradha chit fund case and had been instrumental in winning the crucial Supreme Court order for a CBI probe in the multi crore ponzi fund case.
“Both the left and the Congress are secular outfits and they have worked together at the Centre in the past. Besides it is the need of the hour for the two sides to come to an understanding if not an alliance because the biggest need of the hour is to liberate Bengal from the clutches of a goonda government,” said a senior pro-left leader.
This leader’s view is whole heartedly backed by Mitra a Congress veteran who thinks only a left-Congress understanding can remove Trinamool Congress from power.
Though Adhir Chowdhury has remained non-committal on the issue often shuttling the ball to the high command’s court his followers say the former junior Railway Minister will never want an alliance with the left at least in Murshidabad district where the Congress is the number one party eternally in fight with the left.
Manas Bhunia who is though in minority has openly stood for a Congress-Trinamool alliance and even has threatened to quit the party if his outfit joined cause with the Marxists. “If the Congress holds the hands of the left then Manas Bhunia will be the first person to quit the Congress” he said.
According to the 2014 general elections the left has about 29 percent votes while the Congress’ vote share is about 9 percent. The Trinamool Congress’ vote share is 39 per cent whereas the BJP has 16 per cent vote. However, going by the 2015 civic polls (marred by complaints of massive rigging by Trinamool Congress) where more than one-third voters of the State participated the vote percentage of both the left and the Congress have gone up by about one percent.