Mamata8217;s mahajot

One thing is leading very rapidly to another for the West Bengal Congress party and the Congress central leadership is in no position to call a halt. In the face of the emerging Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance, Mamata Banerjee8217;s brilliant manoeuvre, Sonia Gandhi is caught in a terrible dilemma. Whatever the Congress party president does she risks obliterating the Congress from West Bengal. If she opposes the alliance she is liable to lose the bulk of the state party which is determined to make a bid for power holding on to Banerjee8217;s pallav. Of the West Bengal leaders who count only Priya Ranjan Das Munshi is opposed to the so-called mahajot but he has been sidelined and a remarkably rejuvenated A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury and Somen Mitra who favour the alliance are calling the shots.

If Sonia Gandhi goes along with Chowdhury and Mitra, as she has so far, the state Congress is liable to lose its identity in two ways: by being taken over by the more assertive partner, the Trinamool Congress, and by ending up fighting the Assembly elections alongside the BJP. In fact, Chowdhury is already hinting that the Congress will avoid fielding candidates against the BJP. Such a deal would be logical for a grand alliance whose purpose is to unify the opposition to the CPIM in order to defeat it at the next year8217;s Assembly elections. It is hard to see how the state Congress can maintain its ideological purity, as the high command demands, despite allying with the BJP8217;s allies. The state Congress party may have no choice but to go the way of the lemmings. For the main body of the Congress, going into partnership with the BJP at one remove cannot do its image any good. So drastic steps to cut its losses may have to be considered over the next few months.

Mamata Banerjee has spun her web very adroitly. Going by the outcome of recent polls she knew that in order to wrest West Bengal from the CPIM, she could not allow the anti-communist vote to be split again. No time was wasted in looking for a deal with Sonia Gandhi. Banerjee went straight for the most vulnerable spot in the Congress which is the state unit. Without a sound programme or charismatic leadership, its only hope was to link its fortunes with the combative Banerjee and her party which is very much in the ascendant. Banerjee recognised this was the moment to strike. Cross-voting by Congress MLAs during the Rajya Sabha poll proved the party was ripe to fall and the high command8217;s writ did not run. Quite transparently, all it took was the promise of the chief minister8217;s job to overcome the last of resistance from the state Congress president, Ghani Khan Chowdhury.

No one has been more focussed than Banerjee on the ultimate prize starting with her bid for the Railway Ministry because it is the one central portfolio where she could be seen to do something for her home state. Next year may well present the best opportunity yet to oust the CPIM. On the one hand the Trinamool Congress8217; performance has improved in each election. On the other the CPIM8217;s self-confidence is waning as demonstrated by its inability to let Jyoti Basu enjoy a well earned rest and its constant troubles with other left partners. It looks like the Trinamool Congress8217; turn to prove whether regional parties are indeed the true winners of today8217;s coalition politics.