Maha jolt for Sonia as 8 MLAs join Trinamool

Maha jolt for Sonia as 8 MLAs join Trinamool
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

KOLKATA/NEW DELHI, MARCH 4: In a major blow to the Congress, eight of its MLAs, headed by deputy CLP leader Saugata Roy, crossed over to the Trinamool Congress at the unity convention presided over by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee here this afternoon.

And in an important message for other Congressmen, Mamata requested all the eight MLAs to contest on her party ticket in the coming Assembly elections. This has put to rest speculation that those who leave the Congress to join Trinamool may face problems in getting tickets. Earlier, Mamata told reporters that she was glad that the MLAs had joined her party unconditionally.

This exodus has brought down the Congress' effective strength in the Assembly to 44 from 52. The Trinamool had earlier 25 MLAs in the House. But these numbers now are irrelevant with the elections round the corner, just as the question of the Anti-Defection Law coming into play has no meaning in this scenario. The House has one BJP member.

The unity convention has revived that old slogan -- ``the Pradesh Congress Committee is actually CPI(M)'s B-team.'' The ``confessional speeches'' during the unity convention of the rebel Congressmen will no doubt put both the CPI(M) and the battered PCC under great political pressure as the campaign for the crucial elections gather momentum. ``When people are looking for a change, our leaders have decided to work against the people's will by tying up with the CPI(M),'' almost every speaker told the audience today.

Mamata drove this point home. ``We thought they would join us in our fight to unseat the CPI(M)-led Left Front, instead they told me to quit this and that (she was referring to the Congress leaders asking her to quit the BJP-led NDA) but I told them to give up their alliance with the CPI(M),'' she said before a huge audience at the University Institute Hall here this afternoon.

``We unseat the CPI(M) now or never,'' she thundered, explaining her plan to reach an understanding with ``the BJP, Jharkhandis and Kamtapuris in North Bengal.'' This would create a broadbased anti-CPI(M) front in West Bengal, she explained, saying that ``the list of her party candidates would be released shortly.''

``We waited and waited but the party high command frustrated us,'' complained rebel Congress MLA Tapas Roy. ``We could not have waited perennially,'' added Saugata Roy, saying that the ``Congress' secret understanding with the CPI(M) came in the way and we didn't have many options.''

Saugata Roy, who led the Congress MLAs into the Trinamool Congress camp today, had earlier said that ``not eight but 22 MLAs wrote to the party high command in January to open talks with the Trinamool Congress for a total fight against the CPI(M).''

Congress sources in New Delhi said the split had become inevitable following no headway in the party's talks with the Trinamool on some kind of an ``informal understanding'' for the elections. Hoping to prevent another split in the party, the Congress' central leadership had last month given its state unit the green signal to talk to Mamata for a limited alliance, provided she allowed them to put up candidates against the BJP wherever it contested.

This formula -- which was a climbdown from the party's earlier stand of no direct or indirect alliance with Mamata as long as she was part of NDA -- had been mooted by Kamal Nath, the party's newly-appointed AICC general secretary for the state.

But Mamata didn't fall for it and the talks broke down on Friday evening when she informed West Bengal PCC chief Pranab Mukherjee that she couldn't be in an alliance with the Congress and also allow it to fight the BJP, an alliance partner with whom she is planning to release a joint manifesto for the coming polls. Nath spoke to her over the phone in a last-ditch attempt but the Trinamool chief had made up her mind.

In such a scenario, a split was the only course available to those Congress MLAs who believe they can win only with the Trinamool's support. In fact, some like Saugata Ray had little option since his assembly constituency falls in Mamata's Lok Sabha constituency.

Now the Congress leaders are hoping that desertions in the coming days are averted simply because Mamata is not in a position to oblige everyone who joins her with an assembly ticket.