Accusing the Congress of keeping her and her party in the dark about the schedule of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Bengal on Wednesday, an irate Mamata Banerjee said she would go it alone in Bengal in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
“I have always said that in Bengal, we will fight alone. I am not concerned about what will be done in the country but we are a secular party and in Bengal, we will alone defeat BJP,” Mamata said before leaving for Burdwan.
Mamata’s comments come a day before Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is scheduled to reach Bengal’s Cooch Behar.
On Tuesday, while in Assam Rahul had said that talks were on with the Trinamul (on seat-sharing) and he shared a good rapport with Mamata. “We have good ties with Mamata and her party, talks for seat-sharing are on,” Rahul said during an interaction with mediapersons Tuesday. “Sometimes our leaders say something, sometimes their leaders say things. None of it will have any impact on the alliance,”he added.
But on Wednesday morning, Mamata issued a firm denial.
“Nobody has spoken with me. My proposal was rejected on the very first day,” Mamata said while replying to a query. “Nobody has discussed anything with me. This is an absolute lie. Ei je amader rajye aaschhe amake ek baar o boleni (That he is coming to our state, I was not informed).”
“I had told them they can contest in 300 seats across the country and leave the remaining to regional parties. But they would not listen. Congress has no stake in Bengal. We will decide what to do after the elections are over,” Mamata said.
The chief minister’s comments appear to have sealed the fate of the possibility of an electoral adjustment in Bengal between the two parties. It is not clear whether the Congress high command will make any further attempts to cajole the Trinamul chief or go with the party's Bengal unit proposal to go to polls alone or in alliance with the Left.
Rahul will be entering Bengal through Boxirhat in Cooch Behar on Thursday as a part of his yatra on Thursday. After a two-day break on January 26 and 27, he will pass through the North Bengal districts on Sunday and Monday and then proceed to Bihar.
On February 1, in the second leg of the Yatra in Bengal, Rahul will be in Murshidabad, the only Congress bastion in Bengal, from where state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is an MP.
There is indeed some truth in Mamata’s claim that she was kept in the dark about the yatra. From Delhi, Congress leaders had issued an open invite to all constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to join the yatra as it passes through different states.
On Tuesday, the Trinamul’s Assam state unit members were seen in Rahul’s yatra bearing the party flags. Trinamul leaders in Calcutta claimed it was not a party decision, though the Assam unit stuck to it.
According to insiders in both the Trinamul and the Congress, no call was actually made to Mamata about the yatra, though individual leaders in Delhi may have been informed.“Some of our MPs in Delhi were told but no one said a word to Mamata di. She is the undisputed leader in Bengal,” said a Trinamul leader.
On the other hand, the CPM state secretary Mohammad Salim was invited to join the yatra.
After her peace march on Monday, Mamata had aired grievances on not being given due respect in the alliance. “I suggested the name INDIA, but when I attend its meetings I see the CPM trying to call the shots. I am not given the respect I deserve. I will not take orders from those against whom I fought all my life,” Mamata had said at Calcutta’s Park Circus maidan.
Mamata’s comments raised a loud cheer in the saffron camp. BJP Bengal co-minder and the party’s IT cell head Amit Malviya said Mamata’s decision to go alone was a sign of desperation. “Unable to hold her political ground, she wants to fight all seats in the hope that she can still be relevant, after the polls. Much against her desire, to emerge as the face of the Opposition alliance, no one ever proposed her name. Her several trips to Delhi, to build a national profile, didn’t work,” Malviya wrote on X.
Malviya said, “She just couldn’t hide the blood of post poll violence and rid herself of the nauseating stink of appeasement politics. An embarrassed Mamata, to save face, pitched for Mallikarjun Kharge, ruling herself out in the process. She realised, despite her bluster, she had no currency in the Opposition camp and had been building ground to snap out for long.”
Following Mamata’s decision the CPM is most likely to join the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Bengal. Earlier, it had expressed reservations on being seen together with the Trinamul, though both Mamata and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury have attended several meetings of the alliance, including a public meeting in Patna last year.