BJP makes it worse for Cong by inviting it into grand alliance

As the state Congress is adamant on tying up with Mamata even for the municipal polls, one of the formulas being given serious consideration by the party leadership is to allow the state unit to go ahead with seat-adjustments with Mamata but on the condition that the Congress will put up candidates against the BJP in the seats it contests.

This would satisfy the state unit, prevent a split and also keep aloft the party’s commitment to secularism.

Party sources said the formula, if successfully worked out for the municipal polls, could be a precursor to a similar arrangement in next year’s Assembly elections.

The BJP is making the most of the Congress dilemma. “The BJP can have a programme-based alliance with any party, including the Congress…We are simply following the policy formulated by our parent party, the Jan Sangh,” party spokesperson J.P. Mathur said today.

Mathur’s assertion comes in the wake of the West Bengal BJP opposing any kind of understanding with the Congress. The party’s central leadership is, however, confident of pursuading its state unit into going along with the Congress, Mathur asserted.

The party is waiting for the Congress to unfold its strategy in the coming municipal polls. “The Congress may have an alliance with the Trinamool Congress but will still field its candidates against the BJP. We are prepared for any eventuality,” Mathur said.

In a state where the BJP doesn’t have much at stake and is yet to spread its base, it hopes that it will be able to draw political mileage by inviting the Congress to join the grand alliance. The party is also confident that the Trinamool Congress will not ditch it to have an exclusive alliance with the Congress.

The overenthusiasm of the Congress’ state unit to ally with Mamata has further spurred the BJP. By making conciliatory gestures, the BJP hopes that it will either be able to provoke a split in the Congress in favour of the Trinamool, or alternately finish its secular credentials “by aligning with a communal party.”

The Congress also realises this, and that is why it has adopted a tentative approach to the recent developments in West Bengal. The high command’s stand is clear — that it is willing to take on the Left front in the state, with Mamata but without the BJP. At the same time, to keep its party MLAs together, it has desisted from taking any action against those who cross-voted and also authorised PCC chief A B Ghani Khan Choudhary to hold talks with the Trinamool Congress.