Adhir Chowdhury was opposed to a Congress-Trinamool alliance in Bengal from the beginning
Among the key factors behind Mamata Banerjee pulling the plug on a Congress-Trinamool poll tie-up in Bengal is the doggedness of state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to get a good deal for his party in seat-sharing talks. The Trinamool, on its part, was determined not to let the Congress have its way in its backyard. The result: a massive jolt to the INDIA bloc, months ahead of its Lok Sabha contest with the BJP.
Mr Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha and the party's tallest leader in Bengal, had been opposed to a Congress-Trinamool alliance in Bengal from the beginning of INDIA talks. In contrast, he was quite open to a tie-up with the Left, a bitter rival at the beginning of his electoral career in the 1990s.
Even though Ms Banerjee and the Congress brass warmly met at INDIA meetings, Mr Chowdhury lost no opportunity in targeting the Trinamool chief in Bengal.
Things came to a head last evening when the Congress leader called Ms Banerjee an "opportunist" leader and stressed that his party is capable of contesting polls on its own.
The Trinamool, he said, was offering the Congress only two seats in Bengal as part of the seat-sharing talks. "The elections will not be fought at the mercy of Mamata Banerjee. The Congress defeated the BJP and TMC in the two seats that Mamata Banerjee is offering. The Congress party knows how to contest the elections," he said. "Mamata Banerjee is an opportunist, she came to power in 2011 with the help of Congress," he told the media.
Mr Chowdhury's charge against the Trinamool chief over the party's hard-bargaining during seat-sharing had also prompted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to step in for damage control.
Asked about the Bengal Congress chief's remarks, Mr Gandhi, who is in the Northeast for his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, said the negotiations were still on. "Mamata Banerjee is very close to me and our party. Sometimes our leaders say something, their leaders say something, and it goes on. It's a natural thing. Such comments won't matter and these are not things that are going to disrupt things," he said.
In very strong remarks this morning, Ms Banerjee said there is no alliance between her party and the Congress in Bengal. She added that any decision on a tie-up at the national level will be taken only after the election.
"I gave many proposals, but they rejected them. We have decided to fight the elections in Bengal alone," she said, adding that the Congress leaders did not even inform her about the Bengal leg of Rahul Gandhi's yatra "as a matter of courtesy". Congress sources have, however, said both Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had written to Ms Banerjee, urging her to join the Yatra.
Earlier, Trinamool sources had said that while they had offered two seats to the Congress as part of seat-sharing talks, the latter was demanding at least 10 out of the total 42. Ms Banerjee had criticised the "unjustified" demand and pointed to the poor track record of Congress in the state.
Ms Banerjee's big jolt to Opposition unity should also be seen against a key point of contention within the INDIA bloc. Regional forces such as Trinamool, Aam Aadmi Party and Samajwadi Party have been repeatedly pushing for a bigger role in their strongholds. Their charge has only become stronger after the Congress suffered setbacks in the three heartland elections late last year. The Congress, on its part, is determined to play the big brother role in the alliance and wants to contest more seats for a bigger role in the event of an INDIA victory.