CPM-Congress tie-up efforts intensify

While the CPM seemed to have reached a consensus over joining hands with the Congress before the 2016 West Bengal Assembly polls, the state Congress is putting pressure on the party high Command to allow the tie-up.

If former CPM general secretary Prakash Karat hinted at the alliance, state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury was more forthright.

“Even if leaders don’t want it, Congress and CPM workers will work hand in hand at the grassroots level. Our ground workers are not at all keen on joining hands with Trinamool Congress (TMC). I’ve clarified this before the AICC,” Chowdhury said in an explosive statement.

While most state Congress leaders have called for the tie-up as a last-bit survival measure, senior leader Om Prakash Mishra wrote to Sonia Gandhi on Thursday, reiterating its need.

A similar mood within the CPM became apparent from the beginning of the party plenum in Kolkata since December 27.

While leaders tacitly spoke in favour of the arrangement, general secretary Sitaram Yechury and other leaders hinted the matter has come up for intensive discussion, with some opposition from the Kerala party unit.

The ground realities seem to have made even Karat, believed to be a hardliner, accept the justification of having the Congress on the same bus.

“There’s no ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in politics. There can be ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Tactics can change on the situation evolving at a particular time. Everybody is aware of the current situation in West Bengal,” he said.

The existing mood in the state is to put an end to the TMC rule, Karat added.
“West Bengal is currently going through an extraordinary situation. A total authoritarian rule is taking place. In West Bengal, the popular mood is that Trinamool would be out of power. So these sentiments will surely be taken into consideration while finalising our election strategy,” Karat said, a sentiment echoed by Yechury at the four-day plenum’s last hour. Bengal leaders apprehend that despite supporting it publicly, Karat could throw a wrench in the works behind closed doors.

It is widely believed Karat was behind breaking the ties with the UPA in 2008 after the Congress-led central government signed the Indo-US nuclear deal.

This time, he seems to have fallen in with wishes of comrades from Bengal as he reiterated Yechury’s words, stating the election strategy for Bengal will be left to the state committee.  “Let the state committee discuss election tactics and place it before the Politburo. Surely the decision will be taken keeping in mind the ground realities,” Karat said.

High command’s view
A source close to top Congress leader Ahmed Patel, however, said as of now, chances of the alliance look slim.

The source placed its engineering on the doors of Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, who, during a visit to Delhi in early December, could have convinced Sonia that a tie-up with CPM will gain nothing for the Congress in Bengal.

“The high command is looking at larger political considerations. With 34 Lok Sabha MPs and 11 Rajya Sabha MPs, Trinamool has considerable strength. Mamata assured us of her support in Parliament, which is more important,” the source said.
DH News Service