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Centrally Heated Complex

Mamata’s bile, a hostile, predatory Congress and leaders’ disaffection serve to weaken Trinamool

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Centrally Heated Complex
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MPs Who Matter, Some Who Don’t

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From left: Somen Mitra, the disaffected Kabir Suman, father and son duo Sisir and Subhendu Adhikari, Kalyan Bandopadhyay and Sudip Bandyopadhyay

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As a furious Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee mercilessly strove to cut down a defiant Dinesh Trivedi, followers of politics must have wondered at the latter’s audacity in presenting a railway budget that was seemingly designed to spark off bitter hostility. Some argued that Trivedi was so disgruntled with the TMC chief’s impulsive ways that he just wanted a way out, and so decided to bait her with his budget proposals. Such speculation begged the question: what next for the former Union railway minister?

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Apparently, the answer to that question was being whispered in the corridors of power in New Delhi—that Trivedi was being egged on by the Congress, and discreetly encouraged to join them.

At Trinamool Bhavan, the party’s headquarters in Calcutta, all Dinesh Trivedi’s name elicits from party workers are sneers. “What was he thinking?” asks an administrative officer who has been with the party since its inception in 1997. “Actually, it wasn’t him. Someone must have told him to do it. Otherwise he wouldn’t have dared to defy Didi in that manner,” he adds with a disapproving nod. “Defying Didi”, that horror of horrors, of course refers to Trivedi’s allegedly not consulting Mamata before proposing hikes on train fares in the budget.

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But on whose assurance, if any, did Trivedi take the decision to commit political hara-kiri as far as the TMC was concerned? The Congress? “Obviously, who else?” roars the officer at Trinamool Bhavan. “They stand to gain most if they can break the TMC.” Indeed, most in the TMC camp now think there was a concerted effort by the Congress to create a split in the party, and that the railway budget and its messy, farcical aftermath—when Mamata, in a bravura show of ham-handedness, threatened to quit the UPA if Trivedi was not removed—was where the enemy showed its hand most clearly.

“Yes, I was approached (by the Congress) but of course I declined,” TMC MP Somen Mitra told Outlook, confirming allegations that in the run-up to the railway budget the Congress was in touch with TMC MPs to create a split in the party. Mitra refused to divulge further details, pointing toward Sudip Bandopadhyay, leader of TMC’s parliamentary party, for further details. When contacted, Sudip told Outlook he was unable to answer, as he was undergoing dental treatment.

Even though Sudip wasn’t willing to open up on the uncomfortable issue involving their ally, of all Trinamool leaders contacted by Outlook—including MPs, MLAs and state ministers—not one denied that the Congress was trying to make subversive inroads into the party. As Trinamool MLA and West Bengal sports minister Madan Mitra says, it’s “a vain attempt to break us up”.

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Even those sceptical of such barely concealed villainy on the Congress’s part did not fully discount such acts, but only spoke for themselves. TMC MPs Sisir Adhikari and his son Subhendu Adhikari said they were not personally approached. “I am not a commodity on sale,” thundered Sisir Adhikari. “I’m a hardcore TMC man and am 100 per cent with Mamata Banerjee. I don’t know if others have been approached.” Subhendu too echoed this. “I am an out-and-out TMC soldier and I am with Didi. About others I cannot speak,” he told Outlook.

Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, who had been praised in Parliament by Congress leaders while voting in favour of the Lokpal Bill, only to be reprimanded later by the TMC chief, was the other name that came up in connection with Congress overtures. He refused to comment. Later, when asked, Trinamool leaders Subrata Mukherjee and Derek O’Brien would also deny knowledge of such a move by Congress, but would not dismiss it outright.

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The outspoken Madan Mitra was less guarded. Confirming such a move by the Congress, he told Outlook, “It is a case of a dying party trying to prey on a party that is alive, in a desperate attempt for survival. But it won’t work, because no one who has Mamata Banerjee as a leader would want to go anywhere else.”

So in what way were the Congress feelers being sent? Ironically, the answer comes not from TMC leaders, but from a Congress one. West Bengal pradesh Congress committee general secretary Om Prakash Mishra added both candour and complexity: “Yes, it’s happening, but it’s the other way round. The approaching is being done by disgruntled TMC leaders. While the Congress does not want to be seen doing this, we will make the most of it if there is defection to our side, provided such defection is done as per law. (The new anti-defection law makes it mandatory that such crossing over can only take place if supported by one-third party members). It’s a matter of time before a large number of TMC MPs and MLAs defect.... Right now the numbers are secretly and quietly building up.”

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Public disagreements between Mamata and TMC leaders and her flare-ups lend some credence to Mishra’s claim. Singer-songwriter and TMC MP Kabir Suman’s disenchantment with Mamata is well-known. Recently, thespian Bratya Basu, Bengal’s education minister, was pulled up by the CM for stating it was the individual’s right to work or not on a day of strike/bandh. Mamata had imposed a ban on strikes and had threatened strict action against offenders. Furious at Basu, she summoned him at Writers’ Buildings. A crestfallen Basu emerged in full media glare after the meeting.

Political analysts like Tarun Ganguly confirm the sense of attenuation. “Reports say 70 MLAs out of TMC’s 184 are disgruntled. They are unwilling to put up with the ‘Didigiri’. The number is not enough for large-scale defection. When the magic figure is reached, there’ll be no stopping them. The TMC is slowly, but steadily eroding. It’s really happening.”

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