Mamata determined to get BJP, Congress on same boat

According to sources close to her, the Trinamool Congress chief made it a point to call Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee from Calcutta late on Wednesday night to assure him that her loyalty lay with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

"êDidi (as Mamata is referred to in her party circles) has made it clear that she will never desert the NDA alliance and certainly not the BJP," sources in the Trinamool Congress said on Thursday. Mamata wanted to assure the Prime Minister that being part of his government was her first priority, the sources added.

This was indeed necessary as just a few hours before the call to Delhi wasplaced, Mamata had made a public announcement proposing Choudhury’s name as the chief ministerial candidate of the mahajot (grand alliance). The mahajot is soon to decide and deliberate upon seat-sharing arrangements for the coming civic polls in West Bengal. However, the mahajot reportedly did not figure prominently during Mamata’s talk with Vajpayee.

In fact, these days, Mamata is swinging wildly on the political pendulum in an effort to accommodate opposing camps. "These are just goodwill gestures," was how a senior Trinamool Congress leader put it.

And, gestures are aplenty. To flag off the Akal Takht Express from Sealdah station in Calcutta (the atmosphere was tense here as three bombs exploded in the station a few hours before the function, injuring five persons), Mamata invited former West Bengal Congress chief Somen Mitra to be the chief guest. Mitra, who was one of the main reasons why Mamata quit the Congress, made a complete reverse swing by joining Mamata’s mahajot.

Mamata is, apparently, in a mood to bury old hatchets. Just before she left for Calcutta, she had an hour-long closed-door meeting with Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi (the most vocal critic of the mahajot). Ostensibly organised to discuss some railway project in West Bengal, the meeting, however, had the effect of significantly reining in the anti-Mamata and anti-mahajot forces within the Congress.

"Dasmunshi has made many mistakes in the past. But this time, he has realised that he cannot commit another one. A nationalistic combine is needed to save West Bengal from Left misrule," Trinamool Congress leader and Minister of State for External Affairs Ajit Kumar Panja said, explaining the Dasmunshi ‘deal’.

In what is touted as ‘a very well-thought plan’ by Panja, Mamata is bending over backwards to keep political bigwigs in both the Congress and the BJP happy with her mahajot arrangement.