The compulsion of “optics” in a rapidly emerging scenario of the Rahul Gandhi disqualification issue galvanizing opposition forces into spontaneous protest seems to have pushed the Trinamul Congress to not only join a Congress’s strategy meeting in Parliament but also take part in the subsequent joint protests outside the House.

The move appeared to be a clear shift in the party’s stand to maintain equal distance from the Congress as from the BJP and set aside the policy of Ekla Cholo Re, as spelt out by party supremo Mamata Banerjee, even if for the time being. The party had in the recent past, while toeing the line of staying away from Congress-led opposition protests, gone solo with anti-BJP protests in the Capital and skipped strategy meetings led by the Congress.

On Monday morning, Trinamul’s Rajya Sabha MP Jawahar Sircar rubbed shoulders with Bengal Pradesh Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury at the strategy meet convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in his Parliament office. The party’s Lok Sabha MP, Prasun Banerjee, was also present at the meet which was attended by 17 opposition parties including the DMK, SP, CPI-M, JDU, AAP and Shiv Sena (UBT). K Chandrasekhar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), a rival of the Congress in Telangana, also joined the "black shirt" protest.

Interestingly, though, the leaders of the Trinamul parliamentary party in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha – Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O’Brien respectively – were not part of the meeting despite remaining present at the venue.

"The BJP has crossed the line. Democracy, Parliament, Federalism and the Constitution have to be saved. The Opposition are united in this cause," O'Brien later stated.

While TMC leaders were seen taking part in the protests of MPs in both houses of Parliament, the party’s representatives at the strategy meet were seen at the joint opposition rally within Parliament premises and onward to the Vijay Chowk subsequent to the quick adjournment of both houses for the day.

“The equidistant policy of our party may have happened in the past. But today we were specifically asked to show our solidarity with Rahul Gandhi and remain present at the meeting,” Jawahar Sircar told The Telegraph Online.

“Me walking along the other parties in opposition is a matter of optics, the visibility was important,” Sircar added.

Asked to comment on the apparent shift in party stand, Sircar said: “These things depend on terms of adjustment. Adjustment is not a one way process. There was an apparent separation when the terms of adjustments weren’t right. But even then we were part of and often led the protests within the Parliament. Those terms must have become more favourable now.”

The so-called “favourable adjustments”, interestingly, seems to have come at a time when Mamata Banerjee is actively reaching out to non-Congress regional forces yet again for a possible third front to take on the BJP in the general elections next year. She has had back-to-back interactions with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswami in the recent past and, reportedly, has plans to reach out to other opposition leaders like Arvind Kejriwal soon.

Earlier this month, following TMC’s humiliating defeat at the Sagardighi Assembly bypolls, Banerjee lambasted the Bengal unit of the Congress and its ally, the Left, for “forming an immoral alliance with the BJP” to defeat the TMC. She ruled out any possibility of tying up with the Congress in the 2024 elections and declared that the TMC would go all alone.

A senior party MP said that a significant number of TMC leaders would “love to see a united opposition which includes the Congress” to combat the BJP. “But there are many cross currents within the parties and it is difficult to predict whether united shows like today would pave the way for something more permanent,” he added.

“After the bypolls, when there was red-handed proof that the Congress had joined hands with the BJP in Bengal, there was no question of gulping down that bitter pill and staying mum,” the leader said justifying Banerjee’s sharp retort.

Talking to PTI, TMC MP Shatrughan Sinha was, however, more candid: “Truth is Rahul Gandhi is looking like the tallest hero today. I am grateful to my friend, the honourable Prime Minister of India and friend of the society Narendra Modi and his team for not only making Rahul Gandhi a hero, but also bringing the entire opposition together.”

The compulsion of “optics” in a rapidly emerging scenario of the Rahul Gandhi disqualification issue galvanizing opposition forces into spontaneous protest seems to have pushed the Trinamul Congress to not only join a Congress’s strategy meeting in Parliament but also take part in the subsequent joint protests outside the House.

The move appeared to be a clear shift in the party’s stand to maintain equal distance from the Congress as from the BJP and set aside the policy of Ekla Cholo Re, as spelt out by party supremo Mamata Banerjee, even if for the time being. The party had in the recent past, while toeing the line of staying away from Congress-led opposition protests, gone solo with anti-BJP protests in the Capital and skipped strategy meetings led by the Congress.

On Monday morning, Trinamul’s Rajya Sabha MP Jawahar Sircar rubbed shoulders with Bengal Pradesh Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury at the strategy meet convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in his Parliament office. The party’s Lok Sabha MP, Prasun Banerjee, was also present at the meet which was attended by 17 opposition parties including the DMK, SP, CPI-M, JDU, AAP and Shiv Sena (UBT). K Chandrasekhar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), a rival of the Congress in Telangana, also joined the "black shirt" protest.

Interestingly, though, the leaders of the Trinamul parliamentary party in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha – Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O’Brien respectively – were not part of the meeting despite remaining present at the venue.

"The BJP has crossed the line. Democracy, Parliament, Federalism and the Constitution have to be saved. The Opposition are united in this cause," O'Brien later stated.

While TMC leaders were seen taking part in the protests of MPs in both houses of Parliament, the party’s representatives at the strategy meet were seen at the joint opposition rally within Parliament premises and onward to the Vijay Chowk subsequent to the quick adjournment of both houses for the day.

“The equidistant policy of our party may have happened in the past. But today we were specifically asked to show our solidarity with Rahul Gandhi and remain present at the meeting,” Jawahar Sircar told The Telegraph Online.

“Me walking along the other parties in opposition is a matter of optics, the visibility was important,” Sircar added.

Asked to comment on the apparent shift in party stand, Sircar said: “These things depend on terms of adjustment. Adjustment is not a one way process. There was an apparent separation when the terms of adjustments weren’t right. But even then we were part of and often led the protests within the Parliament. Those terms must have become more favourable now.”

The so-called “favourable adjustments”, interestingly, seems to have come at a time when Mamata Banerjee is actively reaching out to non-Congress regional forces yet again for a possible third front to take on the BJP in the general elections next year. She has had back-to-back interactions with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswami in the recent past and, reportedly, has plans to reach out to other opposition leaders like Arvind Kejriwal soon.

Earlier this month, following TMC’s humiliating defeat at the Sagardighi Assembly bypolls, Banerjee lambasted the Bengal unit of the Congress and its ally, the Left, for “forming an immoral alliance with the BJP” to defeat the TMC. She ruled out any possibility of tying up with the Congress in the 2024 elections and declared that the TMC would go all alone.

A senior party MP said that a significant number of TMC leaders would “love to see a united opposition which includes the Congress” to combat the BJP. “But there are many cross currents within the parties and it is difficult to predict whether united shows like today would pave the way for something more permanent,” he added.

“After the bypolls, when there was red-handed proof that the Congress had joined hands with the BJP in Bengal, there was no question of gulping down that bitter pill and staying mum,” the leader said justifying Banerjee’s sharp retort.

Talking to PTI, TMC MP Shatrughan Sinha was, however, more candid: “Truth is Rahul Gandhi is looking like the tallest hero today. I am grateful to my friend, the honourable Prime Minister of India and friend of the society Narendra Modi and his team for not only making Rahul Gandhi a hero, but also bringing the entire opposition together.”

“For now, issue-based solidarity seems to be a more practical route to take. Parties like us and the TRS, who have state-level contradictions, won’t have options besides going for issue-based support,” a senior TMC leader said without confirming whether there was more to read between those lines.