The Congress will fight the upcoming Assembly elections in four states — Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala and Puducherry — with “like minded parties” but in Assam, the decision has been left to chief m
The Congress will fight the upcoming Assembly elections in four states — Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala and Puducherry — with “like minded parties” but in Assam, the decision has been left to chief minister Tarun Gogoi.
While the Congress has been leading a front, the UDF, against the Left in Kerala and has decided to fight the Tamil Nadu elections under the DMK led front, it has to decide on an ally in West Bengal keeping in mind its bearing on the Kerala polls. The AICC will take a final call on this issue but in Puducherry, it may go with the DMK.
After the success of “alliance politics” in Bihar which saw the BJP’s crushing defeat in the Assembly elections, the Congress wants to go ahead with the alliance strategy where it is weak.
“We have been a minor player in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal,” said a Congress strategist, indicating that the party’s priority is to increase its numbers and share power if the alliance comes to power. While the Congress has been out of power in Tamil Nadu since 1967 and in West Bengal since 1977, it was in power for some time in the Mamata Banerjee government. But it quit the government and broke the alliance with the TMC after realising it would dent the Sonia Gandhi led party.
In Tamil Nadu, it had allied with the both the Dravidian parties — the DMK and the AIADMK. After striking a pre-poll pact with the DMK, the Congress high command is expected to take a decision on the issue of alliance with the CPI(M) in poll bound West Bengal after a meeting of the Left party’s politburo this week.
Party sources said the high command would take a call after the CPI(M)’s top leadership deliberates on the issue.
The politburo meeting on Tuesday will be followed by another of the Central Committee in the next two days. Last week, the CPI(M) led Left Front in the state had formally agreed to discuss the issue of alliance with the Congress if it was approached.
Before it takes a final call on alliance, the Congress would weigh which party in West Bengal could help it check BJP’s march in the next Lok Sabha elections.
Early in February, Congress leaders from the state, during a meeting with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, had virtually rejected the idea of any alliance with the Trinamul Congress but remained divided on a tieup with the Left.
Mr Gandhi had told them that party chief Sonia Gandhi will take a decision on the issue soon. His refrain was that in the emerging situation, the Congress is a “determining factor” in West Bengal.
Before it takes a final call on alliance, the Congress would weigh which party in West Bengal could help it check BJP’s march in the next Lok Sabha elections.
The Left is hoping that an alliance with the Congress this time around could queer the pitch for the ruling party, which is almost sure to win the upcoming Assembly elections, a view shared by a section of the Congress, too.
Sources said the view of the Congress’ state unit in this regard will also carry weight.
The TMC supremo and West Benal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s visit to 10 Janpath on December 9 to greet Congress president Sonia Gandhi on her birthday had set off speculation about whether the “birthday diplomacy” could signal the coming together of their parties.
The Trinamul Congress had been supportive of the Congress on various issues in the last session of Parliament with several in the Congress seeing it as a move by Mamata to keep the Congress away from the Left in West Bengal.
With the West Bengal Assembly elections expected in the next two to three months, a section of state Congress leaders has been harping on the need for an electoral alliance with the Left Front to take on the Trinamul Congress.
Reports from Kolkata last week spoke of growing chorus in the state CPI(M) in favour of forging an alliance with the Congress.
