The bonhomie between the Opposition parties was palpable at the dramatic ‘Dharna’ organized by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee following a team of CBI officials being detained by the state police.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi was quick to lend his support to the Trinamool supremo, making a remarkable U-Turn from his earlier stand on the matter where he had accused her of protecting the accused.
Now, it appears, while the Congress party at the national level is supporting Trinamool, their state unit is planning to organize massive protests against their supposed ally for their alleged involvement in chit fund scams.
Congress president Somendra Nath Mitra told News18, “At the national level, our stand is to be with all the parties including Trinamool who are against the BJP. But in the state politics, state Congress will fight with both the TMC and the BJP.” Mitra further claimed that Congress supporters had been killed by the TMC and their MLAs and MPs were forced to join them. “Given this, how can you expect me to join hands with the TMC in Bengal?”
The state unit of the Congress party has been at odds with the national wing of the party for a long while now. Last year in August, while the Gandhis met Mamata, the then state Congress chief, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, called Mamata a ‘chameleon’, ‘Trojan Horse’ and ‘Dictator’.
The national unit of the Congress party appears to be sacrificing its state unit due to its larger anti-BJP agenda. It raises a serious question about the kind of leader Rahul Gandhi is. The state unit of Congress claims that their supporters have been murdered by the TMC and yet Rahul Gandhi appears to be willing to ignore those murders and embrace the TMC due to his personal ambition of being the Prime Minister.
Ultimately, it appears the sacrifices of the Congress workers will go in vain as the national leadership has already made up its mind to lend its support to the Trinamool Congress. Since the party leadership has abandoned them, it appears to be only a matter of time before people from the state unit of Congress abandon the party as well.
