A marginal pressure in West Bengal for some time now, the Congress is once more dealing with the query that has haunted get together leaders for a very long time: might the get together’s destiny have been completely different had it not expelled its firebrand chief Mamata Banerjee?
Within the almost three many years since she parted methods and fashioned her personal get together, Mamata has shattered the Left fortress of West Bengal and gained three back-to-back Meeting elections. The Congress, in the meantime, is now depending on former rival Left Entrance to hold it within the state – with their on-off alliance not yielding a single seat for both within the 2021 Meeting elections.
On Sunday, former West Bengal PCC chief and ex-Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya raised the Congress’s Mamata query publicly. Throughout a remembrance programme for the late Somen Mitra, Bhattacharya mentioned that as PCC chief in 1997, Mitra had been pressured by the Congress Delhi management to expel Mamata towards his want. “The get together continues to be atoning for the transfer,” Bhattacharya mentioned.
Mamata was the West Bengal Youth Congress president on the time, and had established her avenue credentials by then taking over the dominant Left Entrance.
Bhattacharya’s remarks come towards the backdrop of the decision by the way by some INDIA bloc events that Mamata is a pure chief of the entrance, having held off the BJP within the state. The Congress, as compared, is once more struggling, having misplaced the Maharashtra and Haryana elections that it was anticipated to win.
In Bengal, the place a change of guard noticed the Congress ease out Mamata critic Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, following his personal shock loss within the Lok Sabha polls from his bastion, stress has been constructing throughout the state unit for an understanding with Mamata’s Trinamool Congress within the 2026 Meeting polls.
A senior Congress chief mentioned: “Our outcomes had been unhealthy in a seat-sharing understanding with the Left. Within the 4 latest bypolls we fought alone, however didn’t make a mark. As a part of the INDIA alliance, a bit of our leaders right here assume we should always discover potentialities of going with the TMC within the subsequent Meeting polls.”
Wanting again
In his speech on the memorial for Mitra, Bhattacharya mentioned: “I used to be the MP from Srirampur then. I used to be travelling to Kolkata when Somen Mitra referred to as. He mentioned Sitaram Kesri (the then Congress president) had referred to as him and requested him to expel Mamata. I informed him not to do this at any price. However there was large stress on Somen Mitra.”
Nonetheless, Mitra and Mamata too had been recognized rivals, with Mamata difficult him for the publish of PCC chief in 1992. Mamata misplaced by 22 votes, with Kesri throwing his weight behind Mitra.
What put Mamata at an obstacle was that she had burned many bridges throughout the state Congress along with her assaults towards a big part, accusing them of “hobnobbing” with the ruling Left. She described them as “Tarmuj (watermelon)”, implying that beneath the floor, they had been purple (or pro-left).
In August 1997, the Congress was to carry its eightieth plenary session in Kolkata. Mamata, who had already introduced plans to drift a regional get together, referred to as a rally coinciding with the session. This was a step too far for the get together, and at last she was expelled. Sources on the time mentioned this was what she needed, slightly than leaving on her personal.
A yr later, Mamata fashioned the TMC, with a number of Congress leaders going along with her.
In 2008, Mitra himself stop the Congress to drift a brand new outfit, and only a yr later, forward of the Lok Sabha polls, merged it with Mamata’s TMC. In 2011, Mamata got here to energy for the primary time in West Bengal.
By 2014, Mitra and Mamata had once more fallen out, and he left the TMC to rejoin the Congress. Within the 2016 Meeting elections, he was among the many chief architects of the Congress-Left alliance.
Wanting forward
Congress sources admitted that Bhattacharya’s assertion was set to complicate issues for the get together, which is uncertain of the place it stands with the TMC, even because the Meeting elections draw close to.
“On the one hand, the TMC is intentionally making an attempt to undermine the Congress within the INDIA alliance, with its leaders saying Mamata Banerjee ought to lead. Secondly, a bit of the state Congress leaders now appear to be delicate on the TMC,” a senior Congress chief mentioned.
The selection of Subhankar Sarkar as West Bengal Congress chief, as Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s substitute, was additionally a bid to tone down tempers within the get together’s relations with the TMC.
Bhattacharya informed The Indian Specific that what he mentioned was the reality and he stood by it. “Somen Mitra had a difficulty with Mamata Banerjee and her ‘BJP leanings’ at the moment. There was a tussle between Kesri ji, Somen Mitra and Mamata Banerjee due to her actions. They determined to take motion towards her… Nonetheless, I opposed the transfer… All I needed to say was that Somen Mitra was to not blame for Mamata Banerjee’s expulsion… Mitra was underneath stress from Delhi.”
Bhattacharya repeated that the Congress had suffered resulting from Mamata’s departure, with “a big part of staff leaving to hitch the TMC”.
Requested about Bhattacharya’s remarks, Subhankar Sarkar mentioned: “I used to be not current when he mentioned that, however I’ll ask him concerning the situation.”
Chowdhury hit out at Bhattacharya. “He’s a veteran chief and he can very effectively say what occurred on the time of the expulsion. Nonetheless, within the 2011 (Meeting polls), Mamata Banerjee held the hand of Sonia Gandhi and got here to energy. Later, she began a Congress nidhan yajna (killing spree).”
Chowdhury additionally hinted that Bhattacharya might produce other motives. “One could remorse it (the expulsion) at present,” he mentioned, “as a result of the Rajya Sabha polls are forward.”
With no MLAs within the Meeting, the Congress has no likelihood of sending anybody to the Higher Home from West Bengal, except the TMC reveals generosity.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh mentioned Bhattacharya’s remarks had been a testomony to Mamata’s success in forming a political get together after breaking away from the Congress, which “even Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose” couldn’t do.
“He was a major freedom fighter however Netaji was not profitable in politics after breaking away from the Congress. It’s only Mamata Banerjee (who has achieved this). The individuals of Bengal didn’t settle for her expulsion from the Congress,” Ghosh mentioned.
Whereas Left leaders selected to stay mum on the problem, the BJP took a dig on the Congress. “All of the sudden, after so a few years, this chief (Bhattacharya) is remembering issues that will point out a private agenda… Nonetheless, what’s true is that the Congress has declined throughout the nation for its anti-people insurance policies,” former West Bengal BJP chief Rahul Sinha informed The Indian Specific.
Uncover the Advantages of Our Subscription!
Keep knowledgeable with entry to our award-winning journalism.
Keep away from misinformation with trusted, correct reporting.
Make smarter selections with insights that matter.
Select your subscription bundle
