The tenuous relations between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Congress today seemed to be getting further strained, with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee accusing the Congress of spreading canard against TMC, “because we (TMC) opposed FDI in retail and petrol price increase”.
Banerjee went so far as to say “if the Congress wants to snap the alliance in the state, the doors are open. TMC can go it alone”. TMC is not only in alliance with the Congress in West Bengal but is also a crucial United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ally at the Centre. The Congress, however, chose to ignore the threats and said its contest with TMC was restricted to “local state issues”.
Banerjee accused the state Congress of working in collusion with CPI(M) to defame the state government.
Speaking to Business Standard, West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Pradip Bhattacharya said: “Our contest with TMC is over local state issues and not national ones. When they opposed UPA policies at the Centre, we did not react, but we have spoken out against matters that affect people in the state.”
The run-ins between the two allies have been increasing with every passing day. On January 4, the state Congress held a mass protest in Kolkata against the failure of the TMC-led state government to pay the support price for paddy, leading to distress sale by farmers.
Another issue that had escalated tensions between the two parties was over renaming of Indira Bhavan in Salt Lake. The TMC government’s decision to rename the building Nazrul Bhavan, in memory of the Bengali poet Nazrul Islam, had the state Congress up in arms.
Responding to Banerjee’s dare to the Congress, Bhattacharya said: “We are in the state government by people’s mandate and not because of anybody’s whim. We will continue to remain in the government and ministries.”
TMC has lately decided to contest state elections in Manipur, Goa and Uttar Pradesh and test the waters there too. Banerjee today claimed the decision had riled the Congress and the party was worried.
Reacting to the run-ins, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi had yesterday said: “Nobody is denying that there are differences of opinion. Such differences are not irreconcilable.... To try to act like ‘Narad muni’ to provoke and create a provocative atmosphere is not right.”
Singhvi maintained that Congress was a 125-year-old and all-India party and there was no question of the party being scared of any person or political party. “I am not naming any regional or national party, but this holds true for the political spectrum,” Singhvi had said.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has sensed that the growing differences between the two ruling parties could offer a possibility to expand the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), said the West Bengal chief minister had to take a call.
“First, Mamata Banerjee has to decide what she wants to do. There are no discussions taking place between BJP-led NDA and Trinamool,” a senior BJP leader who is closely monitoring the developments in West Bengal said.
