Is Congress-Trinamool moving towards an alliance in Bengal?

Newdelhi:18/8/17:The political compulsion of putting up a united fight against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre prompted the two parties to hold hands during the recent presidential and vice presidential elections. Extending the camaraderie, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee backed Congress candidate Pradip Bhattacharya in the Rajya Sabha election, who ultimately won without a contest.

In further indications of cosying up to the Congress, Banerjee last month declared at a rally her party’s readiness to join hands with all the opposition leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to oust the BJP.

The Congress and the Left Front (LF) had teamed up during last year’s state assembly elections. But since then, the assertions of LF spearhead, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), of not forming any alliance with the Congress in future could play a catalytic role in bringing the Congress and the Trinamool together.

A section of Congress leaders, including Bhattacharya, who are cut up with the Left, are advocating a Congress-Trinamool tie-up.

“It is difficult to say what would happen. Politics is never stagnant. We had a tie-up with the LF just a year ago. But now they are saying it is difficult to get along with us. I feel it is much better to go with Trinamool Congress than the Left, who don’t have any consistency in the matter of alliances,” Bhattacharya told IANS.

“If number is the deciding factor, there is no harm in considering an alliance with Trinamool. They’ll win at least 34-35 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal. I feel Trinamool is a much better proposition for fighting the BJP in 2019,” he said.

He also claimed that Congress’ seat share in the Lok Sabha would double in the state if they join hands with Trinamool Congress.