Bengal leaders believe 14:28 will ruin Cong

Several senior Bengal Congress leaders are unhappy with the party leadership for accepting the 14:28 seat-sharing formula proposed by Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee for Lok Sabha elections. The discontent is so deep-seated that the West Bengal Pradesh
Congress Committee (WBPCC) has decided to not make any suggestions to the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) on candidates to be fielded in the 14 seats the party has received in the bargain.

WBPCC leaders have told AICC that since the high command agreed to the formula ignoring their suggestions, the Delhi leadership should as well decide the candidates.

“We are showpieces and will remain so,” a WBPCC leader told DNA.
The most vocal of the disgruntled lot were state Congress heavyweights Shankar Singh and Abdul Mannan. Singh said the high command treated WBPCC leaders like “paid clerks”.

Mannan said if the Congress-Trinamool combine won more seats than the Left Front, organisationally, the Congress will be ruined in almost all vital pockets of Bengal. The alliance, according to him, will drive grassroots workers away from the party.

“Once they realise Mamata is the leader of the anti-Left movement in Bengal, they will prefer joining her, instead of being a part of a satellite. I doubt there will be a single Congress flag in south Bengal,” Mannan said.