Congress Dilemma in West Bengal
The Congress’s West Bengal unit seems to be in a dilemma. With the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) leadership cozying up to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in a bid to unite the Opposition against the BJP in Parliament and outside, state Congress leaders have been left with little elbow room after having allied with the CPI-led Left Front for several years. The CPI (M), in particular, has maintained its staunch opposition to the TMC.
Chidambaram’s Meeting with Mamata Banerjee
On Thursday, senior Congress leader and ex-Union minister P Chidambaram came to Kolkata to meet TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat, Nabanna. TMC sources said the two leaders discussed how the Congress and the TMC— two of the largest Opposition parties — can coordinate their moves and strategies to take on the ruling BJP-led NDA government during the upcoming Parliament session. The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha is set to get underway on June 24.
Apart from the Congress, the TMC and the CPI (M) are major constituents of the Opposition INDIA alliance at the national level.
On Friday, at a closed-door meeting, the extended state committee of the Bengal Congress reviewed the party’s debacle in the state in the recent Lok Sabha polls, in which it fought against both the TMC and the BJP while striking an alliance with the Left Front. While the Congress managed to increase its vote share marginally, as compared to the 2024 Assembly elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the number of its seats dipped to one from two in 2019.
A majority of the leaders who were present at the meeting said that the party should go alone in the polls in the state, fighting not only the BJP but also the TMC, sources said. They even said that while the alliance with the Left could increase the party’s vote share, this would not benefit it in the long run.
Impact on the CPI-Congress Alliance
A senior Congress leader said, “We are not saying that we need to fight against the CPI (M) too, but at least we shouldn’t form an alliance with the CPI (M) or the LF. That won’t benefit Congress in the long run. We have to understand that a substantial number of people in the state can’t accept the Left Front to date because of its 34-year rule here. Why should we bear their burden for 34 years? It is hurting us.”
Adhir Chowdhury’s Position and Perspective
However, all the state Congress leaders, including “interim” West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president Adhir Chowdhury, who was the party’s leader in the previous Lok Sabha, chose to remain silent on the issue in public. Chowdhury, whose position within the party has weakened considerably after he lost his pocket borough of Berhampur to the TMC’s Yusuf Pathan in the Lok Sabha polls, however, sought to explain why he opposed the TMC in the state.
TMC leader and state minister Firhad Hakim said, “We too were once in Congress and had fought the CPI (M) together. Mamata Banerjee left the Congress and formed the TMC to fight them alone. The Congress lost its credentials in the state because, in those days, people had more faith in Mamata Banerjee to lead the movement against the CPI (M) than in the Congress. Now, after they made an alliance with the CPI (M), Bengal has lost faith in the Congress. To revive that faith, they should unconditionally align with Mamata Banerjee. That’s the only way the Congress can be revived in this state.”
Responding to these developments, CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said, “What the Congress does will be decided by its leaders in the state and at the Center. We have nothing to say.”
BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said, “The Congress has become a’signboard party’ in the state. It has no prospects here.”
