Break-up and after

Why had Mamata then refused to take calls from Sonia in the days leading to her split from the UPA? And why did the politically beleaguered Congress choose a bitter parting of ways,even notifying the contentious decision on FDI in multi-brand retail a day before the end of Mamata’s deadline for withdrawal from the UPA?

BUILD-UP TO THE BREAK-UP

Congressmen believe that the end of their party’s dalliance with Mamata was always about ‘when’ and not about ‘whether’. Ever since she joined the UPA,their partnership has been on one roller-coaster ride after another. No matter how melodiously she and her MPs sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Pranab Mukherjee in his Parliament chamber on his 75th birthday,the two could never see eye to eye. In February 2010,Mamata was reduced to tears at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure when Mukherjee,then the Finance Minister,took her to task for trying to push about two-dozen railway projects six days ahead of the Railway Budget.

After Mamata shifted to Writers’ Buildings in Kolkata,Dinesh Trivedi,her lieutenant and successor in the Railway Ministry,tried his best to appear more loyal than the queen,taking on Mukherjee’s “school-teacher-like” approach at Cabinet meetings and even walking out of them like Mamata did. Spurred on by Mamata,he also became a habitual dissenter,be it on FDI or manufacturing policy.

While Mukherjee looked for ways to meet Mamata’s demand for a financial package,she showed little patience. She refused to inaugurate a rural women’s bank when he requested her to. When he wanted a West Bengal-cadre IAS officer as his private secretary,she refused to relieve the officer,citing a shortage of IAS officers in the state.

Her stand against crucial policy issues virtually rendered UPA-II dysfunctional,but it was her opposition to the Teesta Treaty with Bangladesh that caused a huge diplomatic embarrassment for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to that country last year.

Earlier this year,she forced the Prime Minister to drop Dinesh Trivedi from the Union Cabinet,not allowing him to reply to the debate on his Rail Budget. Here was an ally who was proving impossible to handle—hitting the streets of Kolkata in protest against petrol and diesel price hikes,dropping her minister for raising rail passenger fares,and holding the government to ransom on every policy issue.

And then there were reports from the West Bengal Congress about how Trinamool Congress workers had allegedly ransacked their offices and beaten up Congressmen. The state PCC chief had written to the Chief Minister,citing 61 incidents of attacks on Congress offices and partymen and complaining that no action had been taken against the attackers.

The Congress leadership in New Delhi was also upset about the Trinamool’s alleged attempts to encourage defections in the party. Senior Congress leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy,who joined the Trinamool,was promptly nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

Mamata was reluctant to let projects come up in constituencies of Congress legislators and MPs. She refused to acquire land for an AIIMS-like hospital sanctioned by the UPA government because she wanted it to be shifted out of Congress leader Deepa Dasmunsi’s Raiganj constituency to Kalyani in Nadia district. The state government also refused to acquire land for mini-power projects in Congress seats.

Things came to a head during the Presidential elections. With Mamata isolated in her opposition to Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature,the Congress had braced itself for life-without-Mamata. So this time round,when Mamata cried foul,the government simply left her behind and moved on.

“They (Trinamool) think they have finished the Left and therefore,treat the Congress as their main political opponent. She (Mamata) is doing everything at the cost of the Congress. It is high time we chart our own course,” says Congress’s Deepa Dasmunsi.

Mamata has always played her politics of opposition to the hilt,but this time,she finds herself in a corner,with her relationship with both the UPA and NDA soured.

But Pradyut Guha,an aide of Pranab Mukherjee’s and whom Mamata had replaced as state Youth Congress chief in 1990,says the tension between the Congress and the Trinamool is “not permanent”. “Both parties need each other. If the UPA is right in thinking that one Chief Minister cannot dictate the country’s policies,Mamata also has her own reasons. She neither had money nor support from any quarters,including the media. Her only USP is hitting the streets on issues that concern the people and that is how she has survived. You have to appreciate her politics and handle her gently,” says Guha.

If that’s true,Mamata was only being her temperamental self,playing her brand of politics. The fuel price hike,the LPG cap and FDI in multi-brand retail were all issues that relate to popular sentiment. The Congress and the government at the Centre had tied itself up in knots and she knew she would have to face questions over her association with a party reeling from scandals. Her hopes of a special financial package were over. She also knew that early elections would work to her advantage,giving her more MPs and thus,a stronger handle at the Centre.

Trinamool MP Sougata Roy says,“The Trinamool Congress will grow stronger than ever before,unlike the CPM which perished after it withdrew support to the UPA-I government. The issues we are fighting are for the poor and common people. The sacrifice from our leader is unmatched.”

LIFE AFTER MAMATA

With Mamata not around to play saboteur from within,the UPA government will hope to push through a slew of economic reforms,including those that require legislative mandate,in the next six months. Governance in UPA-II had fallen into a slump and the government will now have to step on the gas and unfold a series of reforms measures. Besides,the party will have to set its house in order in states such as Andhra Pradesh.

Ruling party managers don’t consider the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as dependable allies,despite their compulsions. Sources in the party say the Congress is even preparing for the worst-case situation,including sitting in Opposition for a couple of years and using the time to recoup.

With Mamata gone,the Congress high command will have to review its Bengal strategy to boost the sagging morale of the party rank-and-file that has always lived under the Trinamool’s shadow. The turf war between the Congress and the Trinamool is set to get more intense with next year’s panchayat elections.

West Bengal Youth Congress chief and MP Mausam Noor says she is confident that the Congress will be able to “fill the anti-Left space” in the state if it fights the 2014 elections on its own. “Congress’s vote-bank in the state is intact. We will grow only if we go it alone,” she says.

But the split comes with costs.

For the Trinamool,severing its ties with the Centre will mean giving up its hold on the valued railway ministry. A Trinamool leader who has been associated with the railways says on the condition of anonymity,“The railways has been the biggest investor in the state for more than a decade. All the tangible improvement in the state has been centred around the railways.” For the Congress,the parting of ways will mean that it has lost the one political outfit in UPA-II with an absolutely clean slate.

Mercurial she may be,but party leaders say Didi is playing her cards well. She may look cornered for now,but will hope to send 30 to 35 MPs to Delhi after the 2014 elections. If that happens,Mamata will be back.

In & Out

* Mamata Banerjee was MoS,HRD and Youth & Sports,in the Narasimha Rao government. But she threatened to resign,saying the leadership was indifferent to the development of sports. She was finally discharged of her portfolios in 1993.

* In 1997,at a rally in Kolkata,she quit the Congress,alleging that it had become a “stooge” of the CPM. She set up her own party in January 1998.

* In 1999,she joined the BJP-led NDA and was made railways minister. She quit the NDA in 2001 after the Tehelka expose against George Fernandes and tied up with the Congress on the eve of the 2001 assembly elections. The coalition fared poorly.

* In January 2004,she was back in the NDA and was given the Coal and Mines portfolio. In the May 2004 general elections,her party was reduced to a single seat.

* After a stunning show in the 2009 general elections,her party ended up with 19 seats. In May 2011,her party ended 34 years of Left rule in West Bengal,winning with an absolute majority.

* Joined UPA-II in 2009,pulled out in September 2012.