Sunday, February 22, 2009
Bengal is an applecart nobody is willing to upset
...not, at least, in a hurry. The drama would unfold in the days ahead. But if the Congress top brass does decide to join hands with Mamata, it would be because the party's arithmetic point at restricting the Left to less than 30 seats in the 15th Lok Sabha.
IMO: It is all votebank politics for Congress.
Experts feel that in a situation of a delimited seat spread, a Congress-Trinamul Congress combine could raise the opposition's tally in Bengal to 20 seats or thereabouts. The CPM itself has identified six seats- Contai and Tamluk in East Midnapore district, Diamond Harbour and Jadavpur in South 24-Parganas, Serampore in Hooghly and Krishnanagar in Nadia- as 'danger zones' where the Marxists might lose to arch-rival Trinamul. If the Congress-led UDF indeed manages to wrest about 15 seats or so in Kerala this time, the Bengal-Kerala united seat gain could reach up to 35 seats for the party. The question is, would that be enough to offset the dependence on Left support for forming government at the Centre for the second consecutive time? Because despite their hand-holding with the Trinamul Congress, if the Left forces manage to retain more than 40 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress would be in deep trouble. Surely with an anti-Left alliance in Bengal, Sonia Gandhi couldn't be expecting even support from outside from the CPM in the event of a hung Parliament or the eventuality of the BJP-led NDA breathing on her neck.
IMO: So in actual fact we have a lot of political rhetoric and little consolation for the voter.
Taking a dig at the Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said development should be kept above party politics. He was referring to Banerjee’s criticism that he was strengthening the CPM by sharing the dias with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at various occasions.
Chatterjee said Mukherjee was siding up with the CPM against the people of Bengal. Chatterjee was speaking to media at Banerjee’s Kalighat residence, where, incidentally, the Trinamool chief was not present.
"Bengal's hero (Mukherjee) is acting as the votary of the CPM. Where was Mukherjee when people were killed in Nandigram or Tapasi Malik was killed in Singur? He is not with the people of Bengal but with the CPM,” said Chatterjee.
Labelling Mukherjee as CPM’s mouthpiece, he said both Mukherjee and the CPM are rushing to lay the foundation of various projects before the elections. “In the 32 years of CPM rule how many projects have materialised? The Bengal’s hero and Bhattacharjee are going on laying the foundation of one project after another,” he added. “Mukherjee did nothing for the revival of Dunlop and Basumati and did not help PTTI students. But he is keen on helping the CPM,” Chatterjee added.
He claimed that the East West corridor project will be a disaster and said: “20 lakh people will be displaced in Kolkata and greater Kolkata by the project. Who will take care of their rehabilitation?” Chatterjee added. When asked whether Mukherjee’s actions will hamper the prospects of Trinamool’s alliance with the Congress, he said: “We will cross the bridge when we come to it.”
...not, at least, in a hurry. The drama would unfold in the days ahead. But if the Congress top brass does decide to join hands with Mamata, it would be because the party's arithmetic point at restricting the Left to less than 30 seats in the 15th Lok Sabha.
IMO: It is all votebank politics for Congress.
Experts feel that in a situation of a delimited seat spread, a Congress-Trinamul Congress combine could raise the opposition's tally in Bengal to 20 seats or thereabouts. The CPM itself has identified six seats- Contai and Tamluk in East Midnapore district, Diamond Harbour and Jadavpur in South 24-Parganas, Serampore in Hooghly and Krishnanagar in Nadia- as 'danger zones' where the Marxists might lose to arch-rival Trinamul. If the Congress-led UDF indeed manages to wrest about 15 seats or so in Kerala this time, the Bengal-Kerala united seat gain could reach up to 35 seats for the party. The question is, would that be enough to offset the dependence on Left support for forming government at the Centre for the second consecutive time? Because despite their hand-holding with the Trinamul Congress, if the Left forces manage to retain more than 40 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress would be in deep trouble. Surely with an anti-Left alliance in Bengal, Sonia Gandhi couldn't be expecting even support from outside from the CPM in the event of a hung Parliament or the eventuality of the BJP-led NDA breathing on her neck.
IMO: So in actual fact we have a lot of political rhetoric and little consolation for the voter.
Taking a dig at the Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said development should be kept above party politics. He was referring to Banerjee’s criticism that he was strengthening the CPM by sharing the dias with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at various occasions.
Chatterjee said Mukherjee was siding up with the CPM against the people of Bengal. Chatterjee was speaking to media at Banerjee’s Kalighat residence, where, incidentally, the Trinamool chief was not present.
"Bengal's hero (Mukherjee) is acting as the votary of the CPM. Where was Mukherjee when people were killed in Nandigram or Tapasi Malik was killed in Singur? He is not with the people of Bengal but with the CPM,” said Chatterjee.
Labelling Mukherjee as CPM’s mouthpiece, he said both Mukherjee and the CPM are rushing to lay the foundation of various projects before the elections. “In the 32 years of CPM rule how many projects have materialised? The Bengal’s hero and Bhattacharjee are going on laying the foundation of one project after another,” he added. “Mukherjee did nothing for the revival of Dunlop and Basumati and did not help PTTI students. But he is keen on helping the CPM,” Chatterjee added.
He claimed that the East West corridor project will be a disaster and said: “20 lakh people will be displaced in Kolkata and greater Kolkata by the project. Who will take care of their rehabilitation?” Chatterjee added. When asked whether Mukherjee’s actions will hamper the prospects of Trinamool’s alliance with the Congress, he said: “We will cross the bridge when we come to it.”
# posted by uv : 10:58 PM
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