Mamata, Cong rift opens doors for Left Front

NEW DELHI, Dec 16: The Congress, on top of its problems elsewhere, is heading for big trouble in West Bengal with rebel leader Mamata Banerjee announcing that she would fight on a Trinamool Congress ticket, an outfit floated by her against the All India Congress Committee. The basic implication of this is that the Congress and Banerjee’s outfit are likely to pit candidates against each other in most of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the State, leaving the field open for the CPI(M)-led Left Front to do better than expected.

Banerjee is slated to meet the Election Commissioners tomorrow for a separate symbol for her unit, thus seeming to have burnt all boats with the AICC. However, a small chance of a patch-up still exists as AICC general secretary and West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president Somen Mitra is slated to talk to Banerjee later tonight.

This could well be the last round of talks on the contentious issue but from Banerjee’s tone over the last few days, peace appears to be very remote. “I don’t believe in Sitaram Kesri’s Congress and I don’t normally back off after taking a stand. I am the true Congress of Nehru, Indira, Rajiv and Sonia. And we will put up candidates from as many places as possible, leaving some for smaller parties,” she said today.

Though her criticism of Kesri today was muted in comparison to the things she has been saying in the past, Banerjee appeared as adamant as ever. This is not good news for the Congress as it only adds to its woes in Manipur, Gujarat, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala and elsewhere. In all these places, the Congress is riven by rampant factionalism threatening to harm the party’s prospects in the coming election.