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Mamata's masterstroke? Bengal RS contest could change political equations

Sulagna Sengupta | Updated on: 28 July 2017, 23:12 IST
(File photo)

The CPI(M)-Congress alliance in West Bengal has received a major jolt after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee decided to support Congress candidate Pradip Bhattacharya in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

CPI(M) claimed that the Congress announced its candidate without taking its consent.

On Friday, Banerjee went to the Assembly, spoke to Congress leaders Bhattacharya and Abdul Mannan and announced her support.

“We have decided not to field a candidate for the sixth seat in the Rajya Sabha and we will support Bhattacharya. He will win with the help of our votes,” Banerjee added.

Soon after Congress finalised  Pradip Bhattacharya’s name, CPI(M) decided to field Bikash Ranjan  Bhattacharya , former Mayor of Kolkata, setting up a contest with the Congress. And the rift widened with the TMC deciding to back the Congress.

This has put a huge question mark on whether the Congress and CPI(M) will come together for the upcoming municipal elections in Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri and Pujali in South 24 Parganas, scheduled for 13 August.

Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya , CPI(M) candidate for Rajya Sabha election said  “Till now we have not decided whether we will join hands with Congress to fight the upcoming elections in West Bengal. But we will raise our voice against both Trinamool Congress and BJP if they try to create a religious polarisation in Bengal”.

In a strange gesture, the CPI(M) candidate said “there are like-minded people in Trinamool Congress and I urge them to vote for me in the RS election”.

Experts say Banerjee’s decision to back the Congress is a masterstroke.

“It’s a landmark decision. This will eventually strengthen ties between Congress and TMC,” said Imankalyan Lahiri, political analyst and professor of International Relations at Jadavpur University.

Left Front leader Biman Bose said, “We have decided to field an apolitical candidate and after consulting with the CPI(M) Politburo.  Congress has decided to field its own candidate”.

In reaction to Bose’s statement, Banerjee said “How can Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya be an apolitical candidate as he was the former Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation during the CPI(M) regime?”

Countering Banerjee’s statement, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said “Mamata should concentrate on her own party , rather than poking her nose into our affairs.”

Though Bhattacharya’s comment “our affairs” sort of vindicated Mamata’s comment that he isn’t apolitical.

There was confusion regarding his candidature till Friday afternoon as he arrived late to the Assembly – at around 2.45 pm – to file his nomination.

Some observers say this is a missed opportunity for CPI(M) as the Congress had offered to support party general secretary Sitaram Yechury for another term. Now it may lose the seat as well harm relations with its ally.  

First published: 28 July 2017, 23:12 IST