PM talks joint govt,Mamata may not oblige

During the pre-poll negotiations over seat-sharing in Bengal elections,the two parties had skirted this contentious issue. While the TMC looks set to ride on an anti-Left wave to enter the Writers’ Building,the question of power-sharing arrangement has cropped up in the middle of elections after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh exhorted people to vote for ‘Trinamool-Congress government’ at a joint rally in Dum Dum on Saturday. It came in the presence of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.

Asked if the PM’s statement implied a power-sharing arrangement,AICC in-charge of West Bengal Shakeel Ahmed told The Indian Express on Sunday: “We will cross the bridge when it comes.” He said that the two parties have not had any discussions on power-sharing arrangement as yet.

Trinamool sources,however,categorically ruled out the possibility of the Congress joining the government.

“We will form the government on our own. We will not need the Congress to join the government,” said a senior TMC leader. The TMC is contesting a majority of seats in the 294-member state Assembly,leaving only 65 seats for the Congress.

Congress sources said that the party would prefer to be part of the government and hoped that the TMC needs the support of its alliance partner for a majority in the Assembly. “Even if we don’t join the government,we are prepared to provide it unconditional support from outside,” said a senior Congress leader from Bengal.

The seat-sharing agreement between the two parties had left a lot of disappointment and rancour in Congress ranks as the party got only 65 seats against its demand of 98. The state Congress has suspended about a dozen rebel candidates who are contesting against TMC candidates in North Bengal. Many Congress leaders such as Adhir Choudhury and Deepa Dasmunshi have not campaigned for TMC candidates in their strongholds. Conscious of the anti-TMC mood in a section of the state leadership,Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi have chosen not to share dais with Mamata Banerjee so far. None of this is likely to persuade the TMC to share power with the Congress,if it can help.