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Congressmen divided over joining up with Trinamul

Zakia Maryam in Calcutta

Already plagued by internecine battles, the Congress party in West Bengal appears to have plunged into one of its worst ever crises, with many of its mandarins openly advocating the idea of striking an alliance with Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.

The discordant notes within the ranks and file of the state unit of the Congress party surfaced soon after nearly 40 party MLAs voted in favour of the Trinamul backed independent candidate, Jayanta Bhattacharya, in the just concluded Rajya Sabha elections. The Congress's official nominee, D P Roy had polled only 36 votes despite the party's strength of 79 legislators in the state assembly.

Roy's defeat has left the party divided into two groups, led by Somen Mitra and Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi respectively. The latter camp has been scathing in its criticism against Mitra for betraying the party and strengthening the hands of its rival, Trinamul.

Things worsened alarmingly when the West Bengal PCC chief and Somen sympathiser, ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury welcoming Mamata Banerjee's call for a mahajot (grand alliance) of all non-CPI-M parties to fight the "corrupt" Left forces.

Echoing Chowdhury was the former Bengal chief minister, Siddhartha Shankar Ray who, not so long, was the Congress candidate in the last year's Lok Sabha elections and had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Trinamul nominee.

With both Ray and Chowdhury advocating a Mamata-led alliance, it marks the beginning of a polarisation of politics in the state. All through their election campaigns last year, these two Congress stalwarts had severely criticised Mamata for joining hands with the 'communal and fascist' Bharatiya Janata Party.

Though both these leaders have expressed their reservations over the BJP's participation in the proposed grand alliance, Mamata says their allergy would be removed through dialogues.

"You see, the alliance we are talking about is purely political and not a religious one, therefore I don't think why somebody should object to the BJP being a part of a political alliance," Mamata told rediff.com.

West Bengal BJP president Asim Ghosh says disgruntled Congressmen have no options but to join hands with the Trinamul-BJP combine to oust the Left Front government in the state.

"Indeed, the win of the Trinamul candidate in the recent Rajya Sabha polls proved to be a historic moment in West Bengal politics. This has also set the trend of a big polarisation of politics in West Bengal. The RS results have opened up many possibilities of political adjustment. Though the nitty-gritty of the grand alliance is yet to be worked out, I am sure it will help both the Trinamul and the BJP in further cementing their entente in the state. As for a few Congress leaders' reservations on our participation in the alliance, all I can say is that no anti-Left movement in West Bengal will yield desirable results without the BJP's support. What happened in the state assembly on March 29 only corroborated the fact that most Congressmen are disenchanted with the diktat of Sonia Gandhi. Even though it means a vertical split in the Congress party, the disgruntled Congress workers will join hands with us," Ghosh told rediff.com.

Meanwhile the Dasmunshi camp has asked the Congress high command to take stern action against those sabotaging the party's interest in the just concluded RS elections. Speaking to rediff.com, Saugata Roy said that he had written to Sonia Gandhi requesting her to cleanse the party of 'traitors'.

Roy, who had quit as deputy leader of the CLP owning the moral responsibility for the defeat of the party's official candidate, said, "Though I am saddened by the shocking defeat of Roy, I am happy that the RS elections have exposed the secular credentials of many Congressmen. Now everybody has seen the true colours of these leaders."

The BJP's claims notwithstanding, it remains to be seen whether the disgruntled Congress MLAs will indeed accept the idea of a grand alliance with the BJP in it. All eyes are now centred on Mamata's proposed meeting with Khan Chowdhury scheduled to take place shortly.

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