Now here's a secret: believe it or not, the BJP is not the only party thatwould have been happier if the tehelka.com revelations had neveroccurred -- the CPI(M), its worst enemy , feels likewise.Ms Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress would still be with the BJP\NDA ,had there been no tehelka and she would have been a sitting duck forthe strident CPI(M) propaganda machine for her alleged links withcommunalism and sleaze.
Post- tehelka consequences have been disastrous for the ruling LF andthe CPI(M) in Bengal. Consider the poll maths : TMC\BJP votes amounted toonly 26% and 31% of the total votes polled in Lok sabha elections in 1998and 1999. Now that a TMC\Cong(I) tie- up is on the cards, the LF is looking at apotentially hostile vote bank of 40% to 45% (between 1998 and 1999), on top of the anti- incumbency factor that comes with ruling over 24 years.Not good, to borrow the favourite expression used by Lok Sabha speakerG.Balayogi in a different context.
Advertisement
Again, there is a clear break between the CPI(M) central leaders andtheir Bengal counterparts on the same question. Leaders Like Harkishan SinghSurjeet and Sitaram Yechuri have shouted themselves hoarse in support ofthe armsgate scam. Contrast this with the sombre voice of Anil Biswas, thesharp, diminutive Bengal CPI(M) Secretary :"We are not making a bigissue out of the recent revelations. For us the campaign issues remain thesame--- price rise, economic insecurity, India's sellout to the IMF andmultinationals , etc," he told OUTLOOK. After all, Biswas and company haveto contest and win polls time after time in Bengal, unlike Messrs Singh andYechury. Other CPI(M) sources add, "By hijacking thestate Congress, Mamata has weakened our bargaining position at the centre aswell." Off the record, party hardliners have been wistfully discussinghow Stalin, their favourite icon, would have dealt with such troublesome newsmen.Sadly, no good thing lasts for ever
