Seeking to profit from the Congress’ prevailing low fortunes, UPA allies Trinamool Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), otherwise described as ‘valued allies’ by the Congress, have turned on it.
Privately critical of the Congress’ propensity to browbeat them, the NCP is now showing the dominant UPA partner its claws. “Neither have we been given the coordination committee we have been asking for, nor does the Congress consult us on important appointments like governors,” party spokesman D P Tripathi told Business Standard in a recent interview.
Much to the Congress’ discomfiture, posters and banners carrying the pictures of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar have come together in several parts of Maharashtra in the run up to the elections to 196 municipalities. State Congress leaders are worried this could be a precursor to the 2014 general elections.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, leading Congress in the ongoing civic and the subsequent local self-government elections (being termed as a mini assembly poll), was the first to launch a scathing attack against NCP and Shiv Sena. Chavan questioned how NCP, a ruling ally of Congress since 1999, could strike such an alliance.
A senior Congress minister told Business Standard, “It has been NCP’s track record to do everything to embarrass the Congress. Of the 196 municipalities, the Congress is contesting on its election symbol in 150. It has allowed the local units to fight elections in 40 municipalities by forming local alliances without using the party’s symbol. It remains to be seen if the NCP’s understanding with the Shiv Sena and BJP in some of these municipalities is only for the current polls or it is a preparation for the 2014 assembly elections.”
Similarly, Congress MPs from West Bengal have complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the Trinamool Congress was preventing the development of North Bengal, as it wanted the party to be permanently disempowered in the state. A delegation of Congress MPs and MLAs from West Bengal met him on Thursday, urging him to not to allow TMC chief Mamata Banerjee to shift the proposed AIIMS-like referral hospital from Raiganj in north Bengal. A brain child of senior Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, the ~823-crore hospital was committed in 2009 as part of a Central scheme. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the current Minister of State for Health, Sudeep Bandyopadhyay (also a Trinamool MP), have announced the shifting of the hospital to Kalyani, a TMC stronghold close to Kolkata.
Significantly, Raiganj in North Dinajpur district lies in a Congress-majority belt, with Deepa Dasmunshi, the wife of ailing Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, representing it in Parliament.
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The 19-member delegation, which included six Congress MPs and MLAs, had a detailed discussion with the PM. A member of the delegation told Business Standard they had explained to the PM how imperative it was to retain the site of the hospital at Raiganj. “This referral hospital will be at a par with AIIMS and will cater not only to the district but also to adjoining states like Bihar and Sikkim, even Bhutan. Additionally, north Bengal is a backward region and desperately needs healthcare facilities,” the member said.
The bone of contention may be the hospital, but this is the second incident in the past few months where TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has attempted to thwart any potential development in north Bengal, a known Congress bastion.