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Mamata calls off ties with BJP, to fight panchayat polls alone

A special correspondent in Calcutta

Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party's relations with its Tamil ally, the All India Anna DMK, have hit a nadir, things are no better in West Bengal where its tie-up with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamul Congress has all but ended.

And the reason is the forthcoming panchayat elections in the state. While the BJP sought 50 per cent of the seats for itself, the TC poohpoohed the demand. In March, Trinamul Congress chief Banerjee had invited the BJP to join the anti-CPI-M front she was planning to consolidate in the state, but within days things came to a head between her and the BJP, with the latter's state president Tapan Sikdar, insisting that the BJP will not be a junior partner but an equal in any front, a decision that was overruled days later and which led to much confusion.

On Thursday, however, the TC announced its decision to go alone in the forthcoming panchayat election, a decision Sikdar described as "unfair".

Sikdar told the media that Mamata was "trying to break the electoral understanding between the BJP and the TC since she wants to consolidate her party's position in the new political environment".

Matters have come to such a pass that the West Bengal unit of the BJP has faxed a letter to Union Home Minister L K Advani, listing the derogatory remarks made by Mamata Banerjee against Sikdar, both in the electronic and print media.

Sikdar believes that at the root of the break-up is the TC's decision to accommodate disgruntled Congressmen who won the 1993 panchayat election on the Congress ticket and who are now hoping to retain their seats through the TC. By taking them in, Sikdar says, the BJP is being edged out of the picture.

Sikdar denies that the alliance has floundered because of his party's demand for seats, and blames the Trinamul's top leadership for the crisis. "We have made no demands in terms of percentages and seats, but insisted that seat-sharing be left to lower level workers."

Mamata, on the other hand, said the BJP's demand for 50 per cent of the seats was unacceptable, and believes that it is now too late for a reconciliation. Sikdar, however, insists that the "alliance stays", and that workers from both parties would stick to their commitments on seat adjustments.

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