Kolkata: The essential assembly between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her counterpart in Bihar, Nitish Kumar on April 24 to pave approach for a grand anti-BJP alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha ballot has prompted sure inquiries to float round within the political circles of the state.
The first query is whether or not Nitish Kumar was intentionally deputed to crack an understanding with the Trinamool Congress supremo contemplating that Mamata Banerjee`s social gathering management has already made it clear that for the time they are going to be sustaining an equal distance with the BJP and Congress and as a substitute attempt to develop an understanding between all of the regional events within the nation.
The second query is how far even Nitish Kumar might be lastly in a position to deliver the Congress and Trinamool management on the identical platform. The reply to this query remained unanswered on the joint press convention on April 24 which was attended by Banerjee, Kumar and RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav, who’s the deputy chief minister of Bihar.
During the media interplay on that day whereas a few media individuals questioned concerning the place of Congress within the opposition alliance mannequin, Mamata Banerjee nearly stopped these scribes and stated that the media doesn’t must get bothered by that.
“You do not need to think about all these things. We will be together. The people of the country will fight against the BJP. All parties will walk together,” Mamata Banerjee stated on that day. During the press convention the chief ministers of each the states burdened that every one the opposition events should shed their egos to work unitedly of their joint transfer in opposition to the BJP within the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
In truth, for the reason that starting the strains of pondering of Banerjee and Kumar on this grand opposition alliance have been totally different. While Nitish Kumar, on one hand, has been sustaining an in depth coordination with the highest Congress leaders, together with the nationwide Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on this depend, Trinamool Congress has been sustaining a distance from the oldest nationwide social gathering of the nation.
There the query turns into extra pertinent on whether or not Kumar would be capable to lastly deliver the 2 forces collectively, political observers say. They level that each the Congress and Trinamool Congress have some factors of debate within the matter which does probably not paint a rosy image of the 2 forces approaching the identical platform no less than within the pre-poll state of affairs.
According to veteran political observer and analyst Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay, since a pre-poll alliance all the time include the rider of a seat-sharing settlement, in case of West Bengal it’s nearly not possible for Trinamool Congress to sacrifice a single of 42 Lok Sabha seat for the Congress or for every other social gathering.
“Mamata Banerjee`s aim is to gain the maximum numerical presence in the Lower House of Parliament and she is quite aware that West Bengal is the only state that will provide food for her on this count. Precisely that is why since the time she started her dialogues with other regional parties, she had been insisting on the choice of opposition leader only after the polls. So, from the point of view of Trinamool Congress this is the principal barrier for an amicable understanding with Congress,” Bandopadhyay defined.
From the Congress`s perspective, particularly from the social gathering`s West Bengal unit, Bandopadhyay defined, the selection of an amicable understanding with Trinamool Congress is not going to be a straightforward process since in that case Congress`s present understanding with CPI(M)- lead Left Front in West Bengal will obtain a setback.
“The recently concluded bypoll to the minority-dominated Sagardighi Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district, where Left Front- supported Congress candidate won with a handsome majority, had made both the parties more enthusiastic of carrying forward the understanding till the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. At the same time, the Congress will be at a bargaining position on seat sharing agreement with the Left Front rather than with Trinamool Congress. So, from the Congress`s point of argument, accepting Trinamool Congress as a partner will not be that easy,” Bandopadhyay defined.
However, political analysts and columnist Amal doesn’t agree that the Sagardighi bypoll outcomes can’t be an final indicator of the Congress-Left Front equations on a regular basis.
“CPI(M) or Left Front being a regimented force can always mobilize their traditional voters behind a Congress candidate as part of an alliance formula. But can the Congress leadership achieve the same mobilization of their dedicated voters in support of a Left Front candidate? So, it cannot be said for certain that the success of the Sagardighi model will be the sole factor that will ensure Congress- Left Front understanding till 2024,” he stated.
According to him, the outcomes for forthcoming polls for the three-tier panchayat system in West Bengal scheduled this 12 months, which most likely a three-corner contest between the Trinamool Congress, BJP and Left Front-Congress alliance, might be an important indicator on this depend.
