Untamed shrew

Her last painting, representing the feet of Bengali goddess ‘‘Addya Maa’’, was done while she was flying from Delhi to Kolkata to attend the funeral of a party colleague, even as she was yet to be allotted a portfolio after the latest reshuffle. She planned to show the painting to Advani, who had visited the temple of “Addya Maa” on his last visit to the state.

For the past few months however, Mamata has been putting together her act quietly and solidly on sound issues of coalition politics. In the last two standoffs between the TMC and the BJP, she seemed to have addressed issues that were more serious than the ones with which she normally associates.

One of these was her refusal to take the oath of office in protest over the BJP’s move to induct party colleague Sudip Bandopadhyay into the cabinet without any prior information to either her or the party.

It was a valid and reasonable ground to suspect — and many of her party supporters actually did — the BJP of trying to ‘‘plant’’ its man in the TMC. She stood her ground and set a precedent, by refusing to take the oath of office even after her and Bandopadhyay’s names were sent to the President.

The question she raised: whether it is proper to induct a person in the Cabinet without the consent of the party to which he or she belongs.

On the second occasion, when she declined to accept the portfolio offered to her, Mamata was raising another important issue of coalition politics. Whether the major partner has a right to decide portfolios unilaterally. With Mamata sticking to her guns, there are indications that she might have her way.

The developments are immensely significant for Mamata’s survival, with the Lok Sabha polls just about an year away. First, her re-entry into the ministry has been a morale booster for her demoralised party supports. As a minister, she will be able to consolidate her grip over the party and its leaders. More importantly, a Union minister always has a better chance of standing up against rigging, booth-capturing and the misuse of official machinery that characterises elections.

For Mamata, the 2001 state assembly elections was a fiasco that stood out against her party’s show in the 1999-2000 Parliament elections, when the TMC won nine Lok Sabha seats and wrested the Left citadel of Panskura. Following this spectacular show, she and her party went on to capture the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

But the 2001 fiasco dashed her hopes of dislodging the Left from Bengal. She eroded her own credibility by parting ways with the BJP. Her wounds are yet to heal, but she still remains the symbol of anti-Left movement in Bengal. Incidentally, electoral statistics show that the Left Front has nearly 50 per cent of the vote share. So it is up to Mamata to woo the other 50 per cent.