The West Bengal unit of the Congress has decided to give clear signals to the Trinamool Congress to behave responsibly to keep the alliance alive till assembly elections in 2011. After Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday, Congress MP from Berhampore, Adhir Chowdhury, too, cautioned Trinamool supremo and railways minister Mamata Banerjee.
On Saturday, Mukherjee had asked Mamata to realise that it is impossible for any single political force to come to power in West Bengal without Congress support. On Sunday, Chowdhury advised the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) to immediately identify constituencies where the Congress would like to contest in 2011.
Mukherjee and Chowdhury made the observations at the WBPCC’s chintan shivir in Nadia. Chowdhury said a whimsical decision by opposition allies should not come in the way of ousting the Left Front from power in West Bengal. Senior state Congress leader Shankar Singh said, “Nationally, the Congress is the biggest partner in UPA. In Bengal too, Congress should not succumb to arm-twisting,” Singh said.
WBPCC sources said the Congress has consciously chosen the chintan shivir to send signals to the Trinamool. “Ourally should understand that maintaining the alliance till 2011 was a mutual compulsion and not only of the Congress. Any arm-twisting will just aggravate the bitterness and help the CPI(M),” a senior WBPCC leader said.
He said Trinamool leaders are ignoring the WBPCC thinking the Congress will look the other way. “But the AICC will not tolerate humiliation beyond a certain point. A person of Mukherjee’s stature would not have given such cautions without the AICC’s approval,” he said.
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