New Delhi: Talks between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have once again started with an eye on the possibility of stitching an alliance ahead of 2021, when West Bengal is scheduled to hold its Assembly elections. Both parties feel that an alliance is “inevitable” to check the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state. According to sources, senior TMC leaders and MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Sudip Bandopadhyay met Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi last week and discussed a possible tie-up between the two parties. The meeting was described by insiders as being “fruitful” and “positive”.
As a first step towards this alliance, Congress leaders have been asked to “go soft” on TMC chief and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The TMC too has decided that the party will stop its attacks on Congress workers and leaders from the state, sources said.
Both Congress and TMC hope that their alliance will help check the rise of the BJP in Bengal. The BJP, which had just two seats from the state in 2014, won 18 Lok Sabha seats in May 2019 with a vote share of 40% and the TMC won 22 seats—down from its earlier 34 seats.
However, the state units of West Bengal Congress as well as the TMC remain divided on the issue of joining hands. While one section of the Congress believes that an alliance with the TMC is the need of the hour, for the party to stay relevant in Bengal, another section does not want to support the TMC, which has been “beating up Congress workers and causing harm to the party in the state for years”.
Omprakash Mishra, a senior leader of the West Bengal unit of the Congress who was earlier opposed to an alliance with the TMC, told The Sunday Guardian, “Alliance with the TMC seems inevitable and is the need of the hour. We were earlier opposed to this alliance, but now we see it as the only way that the Congress can stay alive in Bengal. Both the Congress and TMC have a common enemy—the BJP—so why not fight it together? I will also appeal to the Left parties to come and join the force to take on the BJP.”
A Congress leader from the faction which is opposed to the alliance told this newspaper, “We will not accept any alliance or understanding between the TMC and the Congress. How can we accept TMC leaders and campaign for them when they have been beating our workers and harassing us for years? It is because of the TMC that the BJP has risen in Bengal.”
However, Somen Mitra, president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, told The Sunday Guardian, “We have not received any such communication from the AICC (All India Congress Committee). Leaders in Delhi can meet, but the state unit has not been told about any such move; in fact, we have been asked to discuss a possible alliance and start negotiations with the Left in Bengal. I don’t know where the question of alliance with the TMC arises here.”
Asked if the state unit would support an alliance with the TMC, Mitra said, “We will send our feedback and give our opinion to the party high command when we are asked.”
Some leaders from the TMC believe that an alliance with the Congress will benefit only the latter and will not help the TMC as the TMC is powerful enough to take on the BJP alone in the state.
A senior TMC leader from West Bengal told this correspondent: “The Congress in West Bengal is an irrelevant party. It neither has any mass appeal nor any presence in the rural areas. What will the TMC gain by forging an alliance with the Congress? It is only the Congress that will benefit from the TMC’s popularity in Bengal. They want to take that advantage.”
The Congress’ vote share declined by more than 4% in West Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections compared to 2014. The Congress secured a vote share of 5.61% and just two seats, down from over 9% and four seats in 2014.
However, sources in the TMC said that the meeting between Rahul Gandhi and senior TMC leaders took place with the knowledge of Mamata Banerjee and that she was not wary of such an alliance.
Even before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress wanted to forge an alliance with the TMC, but faced massive rebellion from within the Bengal unit of the party. Many senior leaders like Adhir Ranjan Choudhury, Somen Mitra and Om Prakash Mishra openly denounced that idea and informed the party high command in Delhi about their unhappiness.
The Congress, however, fought the 2016 Bengal Assembly elections in an alliance with the Left parties, but failed to stitch an alliance before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections over disagreement with two seats—Raiganj and Murshidabad.