Mind the gap

According to those close to her,Mamata suspects that the Congress government at the Centre is more than willing to lend a helping hand,even undue advantages,to the Left Front-run West Bengal regime.

Congress leaders,on the other hand,ask how long were they expected to play second fiddle to the Trinamool. The Congress has made sacrifices one after the other since the Lok Sabha polls. We are virtually non-existent in south Bengal. Mamata is going on breaking our party and wooing away our leaders, says a senior state Congress leader. He adds that they were even willing to give the ticket from Bowbazar for the bypoll to be held on August 18 to the Trinamool,though the seat is a Congress stronghold,but Mamata never left us any room.

Trinamool leaders argue that they cannot be expected to compromise on our core values. Whenever the UPA has given undue advantage to the CPM-led government,we have protested. And we were right in doing so; we are the main Opposition. We carried on the agitation on the land issue for three years. Bengal wants Mamata as the next CM. We,too,want the alliance to continue,but cannot compromise on our core values, says a senior leader and Trinamool MP.

While refusing to comment on any rift,state Congress chief Subrata Mukherjee also invokes the sacrifices made by the party. We are all for the alliance. We made sacrifices and today our flag is not to be seen anywhere within a 300-mile radius of south Bengal. The two Assembly seats where bypolls are to be held have been with us for 40 years and I do not think its wrong to stake our claim, he says.

The points of estrangement:

AILA

In the aftermath of the Aila devastation,Mamata demanded that relief flow from PM to DM,minus CM underlining that the state administration should be bypassed. She demanded that panchayat bodies,which are controlled by her party in the areas of South and North 24 Parganas and East Midnapur which were worst affected,look after relief. She rushed her Union ministers to the troubled spots and initiated parallel relief distribution.

And then Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee dealt the stunner,allotting Rs 1,000 crore to the state government for cyclone relief in the Union Budget,apart from the Rs 480 crore already spent. Trinamools Sisir Adhikary,the Union Minister of State for Rural Development,slammed the Budget allocation openly and said that the decision was wrong. This will only help the CPM usurp the money. We had warned the Union government against such a move and highlighted that the state government has failed to provide relief, Adhikary said.

lalgarh

On the operation to clear Lalgarh too,the parties have openly differed. From the beginning,Mamata never clearly supported the Central move to send forces. Later she made her displeasure evident,even sending two of her Union ministers to Ground Zero disregarding Central advice. There,her ministers openly accused the forces of atrocities,causing much embarrassment to the UPA coalition. On Tuesday,another team of Trinamool Union ministers visited Lalgarh and reiterated their stand.

bandh

This disagreement,perhaps,no one saw coming. The Congress called a statewide bandh over the attack on its party MLAs by alleged CPM men in Mongolkot on July 15. Mamata lent only moral support,and categorically asked her party supporters not to hit the streets. Embarrassingly for her,the bandh was violent but effective. As the Congress exulted,Mamata,while not naming any party,slammed the bandh a day later,stating that frequent bandh calls were unwanted. A veteran of many a protest,she said her party was against such bandhs.

MARTYRS DAY

The Martyrs Day rally on July 21 was to be a show of solidarity,and the Congress for the first time since Mamata parted ways with the party 13 years ago,even lent support to it. But apart from K Keshab Rao,no senior Congress leader attended. Though Rao flaunted a goodwill message sent by the Congress chairperson,there was heartburn among the party rank and file. Seated on the stage were Shantiram Mahato and Shyam Mukherjee both veteran Congress leaders who had quit to join the Trinamool.

LAND ACQUISITION BILL

The alliance took another sharp downturn three days later when Mamata spiked the much awaited Land Acquistion Amendment Bill,2007,and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill,2007. She not only opposed the Bill that was scheduled to be placed in Parliament but also skipped the House on July 24 as well as a lunch hosted by Pranab Mukherjee for all political party leaders the same day. Following her dissent,the embarrassed Congress had to shelve the Bill. Trinamool MP Sudip Bandopadhyay stated categorically that his party would oppose the Bill.

ULUBERIA CIVIC POLLS

Following this incident,Mamata threatened that the Congress would have to face the consequences. The provocation: the Congress forming the Uluberia Municipal Board,defeating the Trinamool candidate,allegedly with the help of the Left and BJP. What the Congress has done is most regrettable, she said. Only a few months ago,the Congress was accusing our party of having links with the BJP. We have cleared our position. Now the same Congress has taken help from the BJP to capture the Uluberia municipality.

BY-ELECTIONS

The talks went on till the last day of filing of nominations for the August 18 bypolls to Bowbazar and Sealdah Assembly seats,but finally the two parties couldnt reach an agreement. On Wednesday,the Trinamool and Congress fielded candidates against each other in both the seats. The Congress,however,has left some room for the Trinamool by officially filing the name of Pradip Ghosh for both Assembly segments,expecting Mamata to agree on a 1:1 seat-sharing,with the withdrawal date fixed for August 1. Interestingly,in Bowbazar,Santosh Pathak,a close aide of state Congress chief Subrata Mukherjee,is fighting as an Independent. All eyes now are on the talks being held in Delhi.