NEW DELHI: Two big setbacks in crucial Haryana and Maharashtra state elections have cracked open a wide schism in the opposition INDIA bloc over the “functioning issue”, with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee explicitly expressing willingness to take charge of the anti-BJP alliance.
Mamata Banerjee, who is also Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo, said she was ready to lead the opposition bloc from Bengal if asked to do so.
“I formed the INDIA alliance. Those who don’t like me will always find faults. They may not like me… But if I were given the responsibility. However, I don’t want it. I don’t want to leave Bengal. I was born here, and I will take my last breath here because I love Bengal so much. But I believe that I can manage this even from here,” Mamata Banerjee said in an interview.
Mamata’s suggestion to rejig the opposition apparently may not go well with the Congress, which is currently the bloc’s de facto leader and the largest party among its allies with 99 MPs in Lok Sabha.
TMC plays out performance card
TMC MP Kirti Azad claimed Mamata Banerjee was better to lead the INDIA bloc she took on the BJP heads on in the state polls. Azad said the West Bengal CM has the “perfect record against BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
“Mamata Banerjee has a perfect record. Whenever Narendra Modi has faced defeat, it has always been in West Bengal. Even in the recent by-elections, where the BJP had one seat and we had five, Mamata Didi hit a six and threw Narendra Modi out of the West Bengal boundary. Every time he comes to Bengal intending to insult, his vote count increases, and she, a very senior leader, continues to clearly express her views,” Azad said.
Another TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee said that the whole alliance failed to meet expectations in the absence of a leader.
“Today, if we genuinely want to fight against the BJP and Narendra Modi, the INDIA alliance must be stronger. To achieve that, one decisive leader is necessary. The key question now is: who will that leader be?” Banerjee said, hinting at Mamata Banerjee as a potential contender to challenge the BJP and PM Modi.
Conversely, the Congress lost the Haryana polls, which it considered a low-hanging fruit. Haryana election results swung wildly from a perceived Congress sweep to a winning show by BJP, which beat strong anti-incumbency.
BJP secured 48 seats, eight more than its 2019 result, achieving a comfortable majority in the 90-member assembly. The party also surpassed its 2014 score. The Congress claimed 37 seats, increasing its vote share by 11 percentage, but losing the state.
While the electoral battle was primarily a Mahayuti versus Maha Vikas Aghadi contest, it was the head-to-head fights between BJP and Congress in 75 constituencies that shaped the larger outcome. BJP steamrolled Congress in 65 seats of these, leaving with a mere 10.
Uddhav Sena on board with Mamata
Reacting to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s statement, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that they also want her to be a major partner of the INDIA bloc, adding that they will soon go to talk to Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata.
“We know this opinion of Mamata ji. We also want her to be a major partner of the INDIA alliance. Whether it is Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal or Shiv Sena, we are all together. We will soon go to talk to Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata,” Sanjay Raut said addressing a press conference.
Congress calls it ‘good joke’
The Bengal CM’s remark suggests that the Congress party, which was beaming with confidence after its enhanced Lok Sabha polls performance, is in the crosshairs of its allies after the humiliating drubbing in Maharashtra and Haryana polls.
However, the Congress party has outrightly dismissed the possibility of change in INDIA bloc leadership as a “good joke”.
“That’s a good joke,” Manikam Tagore quipped when asked about Mamata’s remarks.
The party also questioned the TMC supremo’s ability to function as a national leader, given her role as the head of a regional party.
“When the TMC won in West Bengal, they tried to expand their network across the country… They struggled a lot. To what extent they succeeded is clear from the fact that someone who couldn’t expand her party beyond Bengal—how can she fight on a national level? How can she lead?” said Congress leader Udit Raj.
All not well in INDIA bloc?
Amid rumours of a rift in the INDIA bloc after the TMC kept away from the protest on the Adani issue held in Parliament complex by the Congress and other opposition parties, TMC leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien said: “Opposition parties are united in their strategy to corner the BJP in Parliament, but they have different tactics.”
The TMC has maintained since the beginning of the session that they want Parliament to function and have kept away from the Congress’ demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into allegations of bribery against industrialist Gautam Adani. Apart from TMC, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP) also refrained from joining protests over the Adani issue in Lok Sabha.
Another TMC leader, who did not want to be named, told the news agency PTI that the party has been supporting other opposition parties on different issues, like the Samajwadi Party on the Sambhal issue, and the Aam Aadmi Party on the law and order situation in Delhi.
In a more intense move, the Samajwadi Party declared on Sunday to quit the opposition MVA in Maharahtra over Shiv Sena (UBT)’s stand on the Babri mosque demolition
“An advertisement was given by Shiv Sena (UBT) in a newspaper congratulating those who demolished Babri masjid. His (Uddhav Thackeray) aide has also posted on X hailing the demolition of the mosque,” , Maharashtra SP chief Abu Azmi said told news agency PTI.
“We are quitting the MVA. I am speaking to (Samajwadi Party president) Akhilesh Singh Yadav,” he added.
