Confident that the “end of the BJP Government is nearing,” Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left for Bengaluru on Tuesday evening to express solidarity with the Congress-JD(S) alliance that was likely to form the Government in the southern State.
“I will attend the swearing-in of Kumarswamy ji tomorrow,” Banerjee who had predicted that former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s son could emerge as the dark horse for the Chief Ministership in case of a hung Assembly post Karnataka elections.
A strong advocate of what they call regional control over central politics Banerjee had tried hard to ensure a pre-poll Congress-JD(S) alliance but for a blunt refusal from the Janpath.
“Didi played an important role in bringing the two parties together even when the BJP was trying to form the Government in that State,” a senior Trinamool leader and Minister said.
Banerjee’s journey to Bengaluru is driven as much by her plans to unite the regional outfits against the BJP as to create a formidable ring of provincial parties around the Congress so as to keep it from overgrowing back into single-hegemonistic party, those who have been observing the Chief Minister for decades say.
“She is one among those who is not fond of Rahul Gandhi at the helm of an alliance.
This is one reason that she has always stood for the cause of an anti-BJP alliance along with the Congress but not led by it,” said JN Sarkar a political analyst.
In that sense Banerjee’s journey to Bengaluru has an underlying purpose of developing chemistry with the JD(S) “uninterrupted by the Congress.”
Meanwhile in an unrelated development the Bengal Government has appointed Birendra as the new Director General of Police. He will succeed outgoing DG Surajit Karpurakayastha who will retire on May 31.