WB: Congress MLA joining TMC angers party

Trinamool Congress poaching its lone MLA in West Bengal, who won just three months ago, has angered the Congress and queered the Opposition unity pitch ahead of a preparatory meet next month, but Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday sought to downplay it saying all parties will be united at national level though there will be state-level compulsions.

Congress was aghast at the Monday development wherein Trinamool inducted its lone MLA Bayron Biswas, who wrested the Sagardighi seat from Trinamool three months ago with the support of the Left Front, with party's General Secretary (Communication) Jairam Ramesh saying that such actions were "not designed to strengthen" Opposition unity and "only serves the BJP's objectives".

Also Read: Lone West Bengal Congress MLA Bayron Biswas joins TMC

Sources in the Congress claimed that Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata wants BJP as the second force in West Bengal and does not want a third force, which can challenge her. Several parties like Samajwadi Party are not keen on Congress but it has not poached leaders like the Trinamool has done, they said.

A senior Congress leader said, "we have two MLAs in Uttar Pradesh. They are not poached (by the SP). So, you can understand the intention of Trinamool Congress." Sources said the NCP fought against Congress in Karnataka in some seats but it did not poach its leaders like Trinamool did in Goa (Luizinho Faleiro) and Meghalaya (Mukul Sangma and entire MLAs).

"Three months after he was elected as a Congress MLA in a historic victory Bayron Biswas was lured away by the TMC in West Bengal. This is a complete betrayal of the mandate of the people of the Sagardighi Assembly constituency. Such poaching which has happened earlier in Goa, Meghalaya, Tripura and other states is not designed to strengthen Opposition unity and only serves the BJP’s objectives," Ramesh tweeted.

However, Trinamool Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O'Brien hit back on Twitter by quoting a news report in which Congress Leader in Lok Sabha and Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury advocates opposition to Trinamool and said, "Congress breaches trust on Opposition unity and then expects bouquets of roses! And then about strengthening the BJP ? Grow up."

While the two senior leaders fought it on Twitter, Mamata told reporters in Kolkata that Opposition parties are together at the national level. "At the state level, parties must understand that state parties have their own obligations," she said.

She also sought to downplay Ramesh's attack on Trinamool fighting elections against Congress in states like Goa, Meghalaya and Tripura saying her party ventured outside to ensure that it gets a certain vote percentage and national party status. "You think only Congress and BJP should be national parties...We fought some states but we did not fight Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan etc. We never disturbed them," she said.

Trinamool has been maintaining that Congress should support regional parties in the latter's strongholds by restricting itself to the states where it has a strong chance. However, the Congress leader countered by saying that would mean 'harakiri' for the party. For example, the leader said, BJP would grow in states like Telangana and West Bengal if parties like Congress withdraw completely from the scene.