Problems were anticipated when the mercurial Mamata Banerjee and the Congress came together for a reunion, but after the high of the spectacular Lok Sabha win, it has taken just two months for the honeymoon to sour. From Kolkata to New Delhi, the signs of a growing estrangement are visible, and the decision on Wednesday to field separate candidates for the coming bypolls to two Assembly seats in West Bengal was the latest.

From Lalgarh operations to the Land Acquisition Bill, from Aila relief to the Assembly bypolls — the list of issues on which the Trinamool Congress and the Congress don’t see eye to eye is growing.

According to those close to her, Mamata suspects that the Congress government at the Centre is more than willing to lend a helping hand, even “undue” advantages, to the Left Front-run West Bengal regime.

Congress leaders, on the other hand, ask how long were they expected to play second fiddle to the Trinamool. “The Congress has made sacrifices one after the other since the Lok Sabha polls. We are virtually non-existent in south Bengal. Mamata is going on breaking our party and wooing away our leaders,” says a senior state Congress leader. He adds that they were even willing to give the ticket from Bowbazar — for the bypoll to be held on August 18 — to the Trinamool, though the seat is a Congress stronghold, but Mamata never “left us any room”.

Trinamool leaders argue that they cannot be expected to “compromise on our core values”. “Whenever the UPA has given undue advantage to the CPM-led government, we have protested. And we were right in doing so; we are the main Opposition. We carried on the agitation on the land issue for three years. Bengal wants Mamata as the next CM. We, too, want the alliance to continue, but cannot compromise on our core values,” says a senior leader and Trinamool MP.

... contd.