NEW DELHI, 1 May — The eighty-year-old living legend of Malda, Congress party leader A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury has dismissed credibility of the Congress-Trinamool alliance in West Bengal.
He questioned, “What alliance? It has broken down everywhere in the state? Can you show me a single district in Bengal where the alliance is working? Those who talk of alliance are a bunch of idiots.” In Malda particularly, which has 11 assembly seats, Chowdhury has painted the Congress-Trinamool alliance as pure fiction.
For Chowdhury, it is a battle against Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee. He remains angry at Mamata’s attempt to wrest the Englishbazar seat in his domain from him. When the Trinamool nominated K. Chowdhury, he selected his own candidate Gautam Chakraborty for the seat.
This is one seat where the alliance is not functional. Sonia has chosen not to question his jurisdiction here. Winning this seat has become a matter of personal prestige for this Congressman. He said, “I have never lost elections in Malda and I will win this election too.” He campaigns daily for his candidates here.
Senior Trinamool member Ajit Panja is equally agitated against his party’s electoral alliance with the Congress. Panja has still not fully come to terms with Trinamool’s withdrawal from National Democratic Alliance (NDA), due to which he lost his ministerial berth in the Cabinet.
In his latest attack, he said that Mamata quit the NDA to secure “Muslim votes” in West Bengal. And if Mamata loses, according to Panja, she has retained the option to rejoin the NDA. BJP leaders are trying their best to woo Panja to their camp. A party leader said, “With Trinamool’s withdrawal from the NDA, the coalition has become over-dependent upon Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for its survival and this is an unhealthy situation. We would like to have Trinamool back in the NDA.” The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President J. Krishnamurthi said not only would doors be kept open for Trinamool, if need be the party would cross the bridge. If Mamata remains reluctant, said a BJP member, “We would like at least a part of the party to join the NDA.”
At present, while Panja is fighting a lone battle against her party chief, BJP leaders expect him to be joined by his brother Ranjit Kumar Panja, and senior MPs Nitish Sengupta and Krishna Bose. On its part, the BJP has decided not to target Trinamool in its election campaign. Ironically, both Sonia and Mamata have maintained a stoic silence against two members agitated about their electoral alliance.
Nevertheless cracks in the alliance are suggested by Mamata declining Sonia’s offer to address a joint meeting in Malda district.
