Fissures appeared in the TMC-Congress alliance in West Bengal as the Congress sought and obtained CPI(M)-led Left Front's support to win the mayoral post and form the board of Siliguri Municipal Corporation. After that the first volley was fired by the TMC against the state Congress leaders questioning their anti-CPIM credentials, the reverberation of which would continue to be heard during the build up to the assembly election scheduled in May 2011.
In the election for Siliguri Corporation, the Congress-TMC alliance got 29 seats and the Left Front got 17, while one went to a former TMC councillor who fought as an independent candidate. Of the 29 seats, Congress got 15 and the TMC 14. Immediately after that both of them had staked claim to the post of Mayor of Siliguri. Despite several meetings, the deadlock continued. The Left did not file nomination for either of the posts.
Yesterday, both TMC and Congress had put up candidates for the posts of mayor and chairman and tried to put pressure on the other side to withdraw their candidates. In Delhi, it is learnt that Mamata Banerjee held informal discussions with Pranab Mukherjee and Keshab Rao but could not break the impasse. As the possibility of election for the mayoral post became evident, the Darjeeling district committee of Congress approached the Left parties seeking their support for today's election. Seeing a good opportunity to cause fissure in the Opposition alliance, the CPI(M) leaders readily agreed to lend support. Today, in a brief ritual of the voting, the Congress candidates for the post of mayor and chairman got 32 votes each of the total 47 while the TMC candidates got 15.
Ashok Bhattacharjee, Urban Development Minister and a heavyweight CPI(M) leader of North Bengal, explained that the Left merely performed its duty to break the deadlock which was hurting the development works in Siliguri. “The Congress asked for our support and we agreed to their proposal,” said Bhattacharjee.
The TMC leaders are livid with this “act of betrayal” by the Congress. Mamata Banerjee talked of “money power playing a major role”. Partha Chatterjee, the leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly said, “People of Siliguri gave a clear verdict against the CPI(M) in the election. The Congress fought the election against the CPI(M) along with us on the anti-CPI(M) plank. Now, they have committed a political crime by taking support of the CPI(M) to come to power.”
The PCC leaders are evasive in their reactions to the development and both the vice president, Subrata Mukherjee, and Pradip Bhattacharjee were trying to distance themselves from it by saying , “It was done locally”. Subrata even elaborated on that by saying that Deepa Das Munshi, D P Roy and two other leaders from North Bengal were entrusted by PCC president Pranab Mukherjee to deal with this. During the last Lok Sabha election, Deepa Das Munshi had openly criticised Mamata Banerjee for her “inflexible” stance on sharing seats.
This time, she led the election campaign of the Congress single-handedly in Siliguri and last week spent most of the time mobilising support for the Congress’ demand for the mayor post. She went to Delhi and met Sonia Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee to impress upon them the rationale of the demand.
It is learnt that although it was officially stated that everything was done locally, the district Congress could approach the CPI(M) only after obtaining green signal from the high command.
Now, the PCC leaders are trying to underplay it by saying that it won't have any bearing on the TMC-Congress alliance. But the TMC differs. As Partha Chatterjee pointed out, now the TMC would go to people and identify the Congress as lackeys of the CPI(M). For the TMC, it’s a win-win situation. They have got an opportunity to establish themselves as the lone crusader against the CPI(M) rule in Bengal. “Now, it is crystal clear to the people of Bengal that Mamata Banerjee is the only fighter against the Left,” said Chatterjee.
But why did the Congress high command run the risk of rocking the boat so soon when their eyes were set on the state assembly election? It is learnt from Congress sources that the high command was increasingly feeling the heat generated in several state Congress units against the TMC leader Mamata Banerjee as they were unhappy with her handling of the Railway ministry. Many state units had already complained to the high command pointing out to the pro-Bengal bias in the rail budget and the way all the top committees had been loaded with people from Bengal.
There are other issues like her ministry’s changed position on the issue of land acquisition that had made it difficult for the Centre to take a uniform policy on land acquisition. So, it was a signal they wanted to send to the senior partner of the alliance that there had to be a “Laxman Rekha”. Siliguri provided them that opportunity.
But in West Bengal, this has put the Congress in an unenviable situation. The overt co-operation between the Congress and CPI(M) has put them in a bind. Since both the Left and the TMC will now sit in the opposition, after six months they run the risk of facing a no-trust vote. It is to be seen whether the CPI(M) would continue to rescue the Congress against the TMC’s wrath and push the wedge further.
