Days after the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee held a mega-rally to show a strength of unity among opposition parties, the mask of the superficial solidarity is off as the West Bengal state unit of Congress has expressed its strong disapproval of allying with Mamata Banerjee’s party.
Somendra Nath Mitra, West Bengal Congress President: We said that nobody wants an alliance with TMC. Rahul ji said that if there is an alliance with dignity it will be there, otherwise there won’t be one. There won’t be one with TMC, this is final. pic.twitter.com/lBfBsRughO
— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2019
The West Bengal Congress President has insinuated that the alliance with the Trinamool Congress is devoid of dignity and hence there won’t be any alliance with the party. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had expressed his support for Mamata Banerjee to call upon the opposition leaders for “United India Rally”. Rahul had written a letter addressing the TMC chief as ‘Mamata Di’ and backed the latter’s decision to call for a united opposition front to fight the might of the BJP.
Though the Congress-High command has decided to forge an alliance with the TMC, the local cadres of the West Bengal Congress have long been opposing such an alliance and have periodically expressed their reservations on the prospect of getting into an alliance with the TMC.
The disillusionment among West Bengal Congress was evident when the state unit of Congress planned to organise a state-wide protest against the TMC government for the involvement of many TMC leaders in the chit-fund scams. The Congress state unit also emphatically cited the countless murders of INC supporters allegedly done by TMC workers to register their protest against the Congress-TMC alliance.
Though the central leadership of the Congress has been showing solidarity and even going to great lengths to seek their support, the state Congress unit has long been opposed to the TMC.
In the past, West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary had launched a scathing attack on Mamata Banerjee and went to the extent of comparing Mamata Banerjee to a “chameleon”. He also alleged that in 2005, Banerjee brought an adjournment motion against illegal migrants, but now, she has changed her stance. He also compared her to a ‘Trojan Horse’ who is hell-bent on dividing the opposition unity.
Rahul Gandhi himself has been duplicitous about his stance on the Mamata Banerjee led party. Gandhi’s stance on Mamata’s culpability in the various scams that have taken place in Bengal has wavered to suit his changing political ambitions. Having once accused Mamata Banerjee of looting Bengal, Rahul Gandhi today hails her as the saviour of the democracy while the Congress West Bengal Unit continues to reel under the TMC excesses.
Congress had even supported Mamata Banerjee when she had staged a Dharna opposing the CBI’s attempts to question the Kolkata police commissioner in the Saradha chit fund scam case. It is notable here that Nalini Chidambaram, wife of senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram, is also one of the accused in the Saradha chit fund scam.
