Kolkata:
"
Jo jeeta wohi Sikandar (He who wins is the conqueror)," said Mamata Banerjee after the Howrah poll results were out.
And so, indeed, it is.
Winner takes all.
She also said there was a message in the Howrah poll results for Trinamool Congress.
"
Ekla chalo ray" or go it alone. "We have taken on many big parties in Howrah. We have fought alone. We have won," she said. "And the message is, we should go it alone. People are with us. They don't want us to go for an immoral alliance."
But underneath her latest political philosophy, there is no getting away from hard facts and numbers.
The Trinamool candidate, Prasun Banerjee, has won Howrah alright. But with a margin of 27,015 votes. In isolation that number is not unimpressive. But put it in the context of the last two elections and the signals are cause for concern.
In 2009, when the Trinamool and Congress formed an alliance, which means Congress did not field a candidate, the Trinamool won in Howrah by a margin of 37,000 votes.
In the 2011 assembly polls, when Trinamool and Congress were still allies, the Trinamool won in the seven assembly constituencies with a whopping 1.84 lakh votes.
This time, the Trinamool walked alone and Congress fielded its own candidate. The Congress showing was not good at all. It got just 10 per cent of the votes.
But Trinamool's winning margin fell by 10,000 in comparison to 2009 and 1.57 lakh in comparison to 2011.
The message was loud and clear. Without the Congress, the Trinamool's position becomes chancy, uncertain.
Which is why, when asked directly if she was ruling out any alliance with the Congress in the next general elections, Mamata Banerjee hedged. She did not say a direct no.
"Congress needs us. We don't need them. Also, the PM himself has said there are no permanent enemies. They also say, your enemy is my enemy. Anyway, no point discussing now. The question is who needs whom more?" she said, and went on to state that had the Trinamool fielded a candidate in Jangipur, the President's son, Congressman Abhijit Mukherjee, would have lost.
Clearly, Mamata Banerjee is not slamming the door on the Congress just yet. She has been saying, "no UPA III". She has been saying, "Let the regional parties unite". But when the bridge comes, she could still be crossing it holding hands with the Congress.
If the CPM is hoping that there will be a triangular fight in Bengal in the next general elections, it could turn out to be mere wishful thinking.