Hand And Hammer And Sickle Together Gives Kolkata Pause

Kolkata: The three-phase election in Kolkata is about to begin on Thursday and the streets are awash in a curious mix colours: the bright red hammer and sickle flag of the CPM side by side with the green-white-saffron of the Congress.

A joint campaign was seen at Kolkata's Dum Dum on Sunday - led by CPM Parliamentarian Ritabrata Banerjee and Congressman Somen Mitra, who briefly joined Trinamool, but now wants it out of Bengal.

The new allies are confident of weeding Trinamool out of the state. "It is an unprecedented situation, a complete reign of terror in the state," said Mr Banerjee. "It is a question of people's will. The people have decided a united fight needs to be there to give a fitting rebuff to the Trinamool."
 "From May 19, there won't be a Trinamool government in the state," Mr Mitra declared.

Mamata Banerjee has called the alliance unprincipled and opportunistic. But the new friends shrug it off.

"Was it an ideological alliance when she joined BJP?" questioned Mr Mitra. "Mamata Banerjee saying something about opportunism is a joke. She is the citadel of opportunism," added Mr Banerjee.

But will the alliance work on the ground? Can old foes suddenly become friends?

Marching side by side at Dum Dum, Karim Mollah with a CPM flag on his shoulder and Taraknath Kundu with a Congress flag, vigorously say yes.

Kundu had started his political career with the Congress. But didn't the CPM beat him up? "Yes, they did. But that's past," he said with a sheepish grin. "Past is past," Karim butted in. "The present needs the alliance."

Plain arithmetic is driving the politicians. In many of Bengal's 294 Assembly seats, Congress and Left votes added up to more than Trinamool's in the last elections.

Apparently, it has given pause to voters.

Watching the Congress-CPM procession go by, Kapil Chowdhury, who was out to buy his fish, said, "People are thinking about the alliance, weighing options. They will think about it."