In a jolt to Congress in West Bengal ahead of the civic polls, Pradesh Congress Committe (PCC) working president Subrata Mukherjee today announced his decision to rejoin Trinamool Congress after describing his former party as ‘not serious enough to fight the CPI(M)’.
“I have realised that the Congress cannot be anti-CPI(M) and cannot pursue anti-CPI(M) politics,” Mukherjee, a former state information minister and former city mayor, who has been egging the party for sometime to have seat adjustment with the Trinamool Congress, said.
Mukherjee, who had a meeting with TC supremo Mamata Banerjee last night, told PTI today that his formal re-entry to Trinamool would take place tomorrow.
A key leader in the Bengal Congress, Mukherjee's cross-over to Trinamool could trigger fresh animosity between the two parties which have already decided to chart separate ways in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation election, party insiders said.
Mukherjee, however, maintained that he was rejoining the Trinamool Congress on his own and without any pre-conditions attached.
Denying that he was jockeying for the city mayor's post, he said, “I will not contest in the coming KMC polls, but will vigourously campaign for the Trinamool Congress”.
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Another PCC working president Pradip Bhattacherjee said he was taken aback by Mukherjee’s decision to leave the party. “He did not give any hint of it during my talks with him”.
Trinamool Congress had suffered a split in 2005 when Mukherjee quit the party to join the Congress following differences with Mamata on the question of tie-up with the Congress in the KMC polls that year. Mukherjee squarely blamed the Congress for the collapse of the seat-adjustment with Trinamool for the KMC election and said, “I was a strong advocate for an alliance with the Trinamool. This is because I strongly believe that an alliance between the two parties can do wonders in the process of removing CPI(M).”
Pradip Bhattacharya said, “Mukherjee was in charge of a PCC committee to oversee party affairs for the municipal election. His suggestions were accommodated in the list of the party nominees over which Congress had been negotiating with the Trinamool Congress.”