Mamata, Pranab walk tie-up tightrope

KOLKATA: Both PCC president Pranab Mukherjee and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee have a tough task ahead of them before the coming elections to 82 civic bodies including Kolkata Municipal Corporation. None of the two leaders can afford to dump the other at this stage when the combined strength of Congress and Trinamool has posed a serious challenge to the uninterrupted rule of Left Front.

Congress leaders are now busy touring the districts to gauge the mood of the leaders and workers at the grassroots level.

On Friday, Congress legislature party leader Manas Bhunia will meet party leaders in Birbhum. It will be the turn of Ajay Dey to talk to his party colleagues in Burdwan on Sunday. In Hooghly, the Congressmen have already expressed their views on the issue before observer Krishna Debnath. The rest of the districts will follow suit.

Leaders like Abdul Mannan have warned against the rerun of the Ranaghat episode when councillors winning on Congress tickets switched to Trinamool and formed the board in 2005. On the other hand, the Trinamool leaders are wary of a repeat of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation fiasco, where the Congress-Trinamool combine won the polls in September 2009, but Congress formed the board with Left support, leaving its ally red-faced.

"Many of our councillors switched camps and helped Trinamool form the board like in Ranaghat, Serampore. Now these people are calling the shots. The alliance shouldn't lower Congress prestige," Mannan said.

Both Mukherjee and Mamata are keen on preventing a Siliguri-like situation which leaves CPM in an advantageous position. But that is not so easily done.

The Pradesh Congress is a divided house with leaders like Adhir Chowdhury, Deepa Das Munshi and Shankar Singh against any alliance with the Trinamool. On the other hand, there are the Mahajot advocates like Subrata Mukherjee, Pradip Bhattacharya and Manas Bhunia.

Though the Congress high command is unhappy with Mamata's opposition to the fuel-price hike, it doesn't want to miff her any further. The party high command would like the district-level leaders to sort out differences with the Trinamool. On his part, Pranab Mukherjee has dropped hints that if differences surface at the local level between the two parties during the ensuing civic polls, he will be there to iron them out.

The biggest obstacle, however, is Mamata's insistence on deciding

seat-sharing with the state-level leaders. Bowing to demands made by

district leaders, the PCC has left the seat adjustment at the grassroots level. How much of the arrangement will be acceptable to the Trinamool chief is doubted.

A section of the Trinamool leaders are trying to convince Mamata to go for the alliance even if it is at the lower level, keeping in mind next year's make-or-break Assembly elections. "We haven't received any instruction from the party top brass. Irrespective of the strength of the parties in each of the districts an understanding should be reached," said a Trinamool leader from south-24 Parganas. On its own Trinamool is confident of taking on the ruling Left Front in East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas.

The Burdwan district president of Congress and Katwa MLA Rabi Chatterjee is all for the alliance in the six municipalities that go to poll this year.

In North Bengal, Trinamool Congress will not find it easy. Apart from his home turf Murshidabad where any alliance has been ruled out, Adhir Chowdhury is also in charge of Malda. His meeting with the Malda leaders will be decided after the MP Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury returns from Delhi on Saturday. Post-ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury, Malda Congress is a divided house.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Mamata-Pranab-walk-tie-...

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