The Congress and the TMC had contested the Lok Sabha polls and the recent bypolls in Bengal separately.
New Delhi:
Signaling a rift in the INDIA bloc after Congress's mega defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana elections, the Trinamool Congress has said this will not rubber-stamp the decisions of its allies. Contrary to the Congress' push for a discussion in Parliament on alleged corruption, the Mamata Banerjee-led party has said that it wants the House to function in a manner that addresses the issues of the people of West Bengal can put things in order.
Sources in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) said the stand was endorsed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who stressed that Congress is not an electoral ally of the party despite both being members of the INDIA alliance, and that the TMC does not. must accept “unilateral decisions” from Congress.
The Congress and the TMC had contested the Lok Sabha elections and the recent bypolls in West Bengal separately. The Trinamool Congress won all six seats in the bypoll and 29 of the 40 constituencies in the Lok Sabha elections, improving on its 2019 result despite the big efforts made by the BJP in the state.
A TMC leader said the party wants to discuss corruption – one of the issues that have kept both Houses of Parliament adjourned since Monday – but does not want it to overshadow the issues of the people of West Bengal.
“West Bengal is running out of money, prices have risen across the country and we are calling for a law for speedier justice for women who have been raped. These are some of the issues we want to raise. We need Parliament to function,” the leader said.
Rumbling beneath the surface
Despite being members of the INDIA Alliance at the Centre, the Trinamool Congress and Congress have had an uneasy relationship and there was also speculation that the regional party would pull out of the opposition fold before the Lok Sabha elections. Though the cracks were covered with statements from Mamata Banerjee and the Congress' top leadership, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi, they have surfaced several times since then.
After the Congress' unexpected defeat in Haryana in October, the Trinamool Congress lost no time in attacking its ally, accusing it of 'arrogance' and not accommodating regional parties in states where it considers itself strong.
“This attitude leads to electoral losses – 'if we feel we are winning, we will not accommodate regional parties, but in states where we are in trouble, regional parties should accommodate us.' Arrogance, being right and looking down on regional parties is a recipe for disaster,” Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale said.
The TMC twisted the knife after the defeat of the Congress-Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)-NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) alliance in Maharashtra last week and its MP Kalyan Banerjee called for Mamata Banerjee's appointment as head of the INDIA coalition
“What have they done in the last three or four years? Who is the leader in the INDIA alliance? No one has been chosen as leader, as the face of the opposition. Now it must happen. Congress has failed. That mi is established. Congress leaders tried in Haryana, they failed. (In)Maharashtra have failed. It is not that only the Congress has lost, it is that all of us, in the INDIA alliance, have lost faith in the Congress, but it could not achieve the target result,” Banerjee told NDTV on Monday.
“You see, the by-elections took place. Everyone criticized Mamata Banerjee, but we won six out of six seats in Bengal. We won by a margin of 1 lakh. People put faith in Mamata Banerjee. The people of Bengal and people all over India love Mamata Banerjee. Why? Because of her fighting character,” he added.
