Stung by the Left on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Congress will take its political battle against the CPI(M) to West Bengal in a tit-for-tat in case.
KOLKATA: Stung by the Left on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Congress will take its political battle against the CPI(M) to West Bengal in a tit-for-tat in case the party distances itself from the UPA.
The planned Congress offensive against the CPI(M), with an eye on Lok Sabha Polls 2009, will be on two fronts. To start with, the Congress-led UPA government will pull out support to all pet showcase projects of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, such as the chemical hub, extension of freight corridor to the state and foreign-funded infrastructure projects.
At a more political level, the Congress has directed its state unit to get close to Mamata Banerjee for a more vigorous anti-Left movement.
Both the elements of the forthcoming political battle have been vetted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the two implementing pointsmen are political secretary Ahmed Patel and foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also president of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee.
Sonia is expected to initiate a revamp of the Congress units in West Bengal and Kerala to ready them for a stiff face-off with the CPI(M).
A senior Congress general secretary said, “The intensity of the political offensive at the state level will be in direct proportion to the Left’s belligerence in Delhi.
They should realise that the Congress cannot accept a situation where they reap political capital out of economic development initiatives of the central government and continue virulent attacks on the Centre.”
A lot of significance is being attributed to Sonia’s body language when in Parliament last week she greeted Mamata warmly and asked her about her health.
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