Apparently taking cognizance of the jot (alliance) drive both within the left and the Congress, Bengal Chief Minister is planning to send a team of Muslim leaders from her State to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi in order to dissuade her from teaming up with the communists, Trinamool sources said.
The new development comes in the wake of a large team of senior Pradesh Congress leaders meeting both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi with an appeal to strike an alliance with the left.
Banerjee is reportedly sending the counter group led by former Congress man Siddiqulla Chowdhury who currently leads the Bengal chapter of Jamat Ulema e Hind. One of Chowdhury’s brothers is a Minister in Banerjee Cabinet. Siddiqullah Chowdhury who had for the past four years been highly critical of Banerjee’s style of functioning has recently cozied up to her.
“There is no permanent enemy or permanent friend in politics. If the Congress or the left have the freedom to make ideological compromises in order to grab power so does the Trinamool,” a senior party leader and a State Minister said adding though the Chief Minister was “such a towering leader and so much loved all over the State for her pro-people developmental works that she does not need anyone’s help to win the elections.”
As per 2014 General election results the Congress has about 10 percent votes and the left has 30 percent while the Trinamool has a little more than 39 percent votes. The Trinamool is unlikely to make friends with the BJP which has about 17 percent vote share.
“In such circumstances if there is a slight tilt of even one percent of which there is a good chance then the Trinamool may lose power” said BM Chakrabarty a sephologist adding “even if we go by the BJP’s performance in the recently held civic polls where it got about 10 percent votes then the saffron party’s may continue to shed its vote share further to the left Front. In that case a left-Congress alliance may spell a disaster for the Trinamool Congress.”
Meanwhile, PCC leader Abdul Mannan on Thursday met the Congress president and reportedly requested for an alliance with the left. “It is clear that neither the left nor the Congress can take on the Trinamool singlehandedly because of their muscle men. So the two parties must come together because the people of Bengal want it” he is known to have told the Congress president.
Gandhi asked her whether the left was also willing to go with the Congress, Mannan said a majority of Bengal Marxists were willing to do so and it was time to “honour the people’s wish to throw out the Trinamool Congress from power.”