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The Congress party split in West Bengal on Sunday.
At a specially convened function at Calcutta's University Institute Hall, eight party legislators and three All-India Congress Committee members formally joined Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamul Congress.
The legislators had been demanding electoral adjustments with the Trinamul-Bharatiya Janata Party combine, ahead of assembly elections.
The legislators are Saugata Roy, Tapash Roy, Paresh Pal, Tarak Banerjee, Sibdas Mukherjee, Anupam Sen, Devi Sankar Panda and Sheetal Sardar, while the AICC members are Samir Roy, Pranab Basu and Sukendu Shekhar Ray.
Rebel leader and former Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president Saugata Roy said that he and his colleagues had no choice but to desert the Congress in the wake of the ''high command's constant ambiguity on joining hands with Mamata Banerjee''.
Commenting on factors that led his group to server ties with his parent party, Roy said, "I didn't leave the party as a result of an overnight decision. We apprised (All-India Congress Committee President) Sonia Gandhi, (AICC general secretary and in-charge of Bengal affairs) Kamal Nath and Pranab Mukherjee about the ground realities. Our assessment has been that neither the Trinamul nor the Congress could take on the mighty Left Front alone. So we advised them to find a mechanism whereby an electoral understanding with Banerjee was possible ahead of assembly elections. None appeared interested in listening to our suggestion. So much so that I was made to wait for 21 days. Knowing that elections were fast approaching, we had no choice but to resort to quitting party."
Mamata, who later arrived at the conclave venue, welcomed the entry of Congress rebels into her party, announcing that all would be given Trinamul tickets for the assembly elections.
Justifying the rebels' decision to leave Congress, the Union railway minister took a dig at her former party, accusing the state leadership of being hand-in-glove with the ruling Left Front in Bengal. She alleged that a powerful lobby within the Congress was instrumental in ensuring her expulsion when she voiced opposition to the Communist-led Left Front.
"And see what has happened today. They too have had to leave party because they felt it was simply not possible for them to continue in a party, which had miserably failed to discharge its duty as a responsible Opposition in Bengal. Those who are true anti-Left, are leaving the Congress while the remaining consists of the 'B' team of the Communist Party of India-Marxist," Mamata remarked.
The Congress, however, remain unruffled about the episode. Though PCC president Pranab Mukherjee was not available for comment in Calcutta, PCC functionary Manas Bhuniya told rediff.com that Sunday's development was not a split.
He rubbished reports that Saugata and his men's joining hands with Mamata would mar his party's poll prospects in the assembly elections. He said people in their own constituency would give a befitting reply to the traitors.
"What difference Saugata and his men can make to the Congress? They had to join the Trinamul because it was a question of survival. None was sure of retaining seats in the elections. Hence, they have made this attempt to ride piggyback on Mamata's much-touted popularity crest. But they will soon realise that they were merely indulging in day-dreaming," Bhuniya said.
Bhuniya, however, hinted at an alliance with the Trinamul. Mukherjee had stunned everyone by suddenly calling on Mamata at the latter's residence on Friday night. According to Bhuniya, the process to pursue Mamata to dissociate herself from the BJP was on.
Observers attribute the split in Congress to the battle for upmanship within the party, which had assumed monumental proportions after Mukherjee's appointment as PCC chief. What worsened the issue was Mukherjee's re-election to the Congress Working Committee.
Considering that all, except Paresh Pal, are supporters of Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, political circles are abuzz that the latter was the guiding force behind the split. Pal has been a known prodigy of former PCC president A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury.
Dasmunshi, it is believed, was annoyed with the Congress leadership over attempts to marginalise him in Bengal politics. After being removed from the post of working president of the PCC, Dasmunshi failed to get a CWC berth. Even during an AICC membership drive a few months ago, the Dasmunshi-Mukherjee camp had inducted most sympathisers.
Though the Dasmunshi faction had raised furore, grumbling over Mukherjee's 'despotic' manner in 'hand-picking' members for the AICC, their discordant voice had gone unheard by the high command.
The split has led to jubilation in the Left camp, for any division in non-Left votes will pave the way for a CPI-M led front's victory in the elections.
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