Mamata Banerjee may be silent at the moment but she is unhappy, if not angry with the Congress, post the Mumbai Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) meet. With the CPI (M) turning down the Bengal Chief Minister’s proposal for a consensus on a blanket nation-wide seat-sharing formula in the Mumbai summit and the Congress doing nothing to restrain CPI (M)’s general secretary Sitaram Yechury, the Trinamool Congress top brass is fuming. Though the party leaders are under strict instruction not to speak out of turn, sources said in the TMC said that the party’s second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee has given instructions to prepare for an all-out campaign for all the 42 parliamentary seats sans both the Left and the Congress.
“This means that there will be no INDIA in Bengal in the parliamentary elections and there will be no CPI (M) and the Congress in the State after that,” said a senior TMC leader close to Kalighat. According to a very senior leader and a former Union Minister, Mamata has not liked the extension of the phraseology “as far as possible” (in the alliance’s resolution on fighting the elections together) to Bengal her own home turf. Though Mamata was initially half-willing to leave only two seats of Bahrampur and Malda South to the Congress in Bengal and back the Left not in Bengal but in Tripura, at present she wants her cadres to go all-out for all the seats. “After Mumbai, the TMC’s one-point agenda should be to decimate the Left and the Congress in Bengal even if that means going soft on the BJP in some place … because they must be taught a lesson here,” said a senior member of the TMC’s think tank.
Earlier eyebrows were raised in the coastal city when the TMC chairperson on Friday skipped the joint Press conference addressed by the alliance leaders after the Mumbai meet leaving for the airport along with his nephew Abhishek apparently in a huff.
Senior TMC leader Derek O’Brien, too, did not attend the Press conference as their repeated plea for including a statement on seat-sharing from the national level was turned down by the Left and the Congress which reportedly suggested keeping Kerala, Punjab and Bengal out of the scheme of seat-sharing proposal for now. Sources said while the TMC remained “committed to the INDIA alliance” it wanted seat sharing to be decided at a “faster pace”.
The Bengal ruling outfit wanted the Mumbai meeting to put a timeline by which the seat-sharing talks should be completed.
According to TMC sources, Mamata was so angry with her proposal not getting received from the Left and the Congress that she even jerked the hands of Maratha patriarch Sharad Pawar — who tried to make some last moment efforts to calm her down by pulling her hands — and went away without talking to Yechury who was seen rising up from his seat to speak to her. Mamata is also known to have told her confidants about the conduct of the Congress Working Committee member Adhir Chowdhury.
“No one (from Delhi) restrained some Bengal leaders (of the Congress) who were attacking us from Dhupguri (in North Bengal) at a time when the INDIA meeting was on … is this is a right message and commitment for the alliance,” Mamata was quoted as saying.
This was apparently in reference to Chowdhury who earlier said, “Mamata is holding the feet of the Congress to save herself as her family is embroiled in scams.”
Dhupguri Assembly seat which fell vacant following the local BJP MLA’s death is going to a bypoll on September 5. The Left has put up a candidate here with the Congress backing.