Sonia Gandhi’s Shimla resolve to go for coalition politics has taken an unforeseen turn in Bengal. If it was meant as a message to the party to wrest power from the BJP by courting secular parties, it has been lost here. The Congress this afternoon managed to win the Malda zilla parishad board by joining hands with the BJP. It was a single BJP ballot that the Congress begged for and got with the finally tally 17-16 in favour of the Congress in a board of 33. The Left Front, led by the CPI(M), lost after almost 15 years.The Congress had 15 seats on its own while the Trinamool Congress and the BJP had one each. Behind the move to grab power in tandem were bigwigs like Ghani Khan Chowdhury of the Congress, BJP state president Tathagata Roy and Union minister Tapan Sikdar.When reminded of the Shimla resolution and the Congress taking BJP support, Ghani Khan said: ‘‘Hell with party policies. To me people come first. By capturing the Board the Congress will bring relief to the people oppressed under the CPI(M). That’s my first priority,’’ he said. BJP’s state chief Tathagata Roy said: ‘‘We don’t mind being a ‘sahajogi’ party to the Congress to dislodge the CPI(M) in Bengal. The request came from Rubi Noor of the Congress in black and white and we agreed to back them. For this no sanction was necessary from the high command.’’And to guard against any floor crossing, Ghani Khan played host to 15-odd party members for the past few days. They stayed at his Malda home and were treated to sumptuous meals.The CPI(M) organized a massive ‘‘protest manch’’ in Malda town shouting slogans against the Congress-BJP alliance. ‘‘Down with such shameless politics,’’ shouted party cadre who got a hint of defeat early in the morning.Beyond politics, the decision for a compromise between the Congress and the BJP and the CPI(M)’s abortive attempt to spring a last-minute surprise can all be attributed to the huge financial stakes involved in running a zilla parishad board like Malda. The average annual budget for this parishad is about Rs 200 crore. For a five-year term, it means spending of nearly Rs. 10,000 crore on various rural development schemes by the Board.
