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The Congress and Trinamul Congress finally resolved their differences on all 294 assembly seats in West Bengal on Saturday. With the electoral alliance formally in place, the Congress has been given 57 seats while the Trinamul would put up its cadidates in 229 seats. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Trinamul's earlier poll partner, would fight seven seats while Chunibala Hansda of Jharkhand Party (Naren) would seek re-election from Binpur in south Bengal.
Addressing a crowded news conference at Congress leader Kamal Nath's Calcutta residence, Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee said she hoped to oust the Left Front with the help of her parent party. She urged the Congress leadership to fight the May elections on a common minimum programme, as suggested by the West Bengal Pradesh Committee chief Pranab Mukherjee.
Mamata said, "I appreciate Pranabda's suggestion. He (Mukherjee) has been assigned the task of chalking out what should be these issues."
Mamata lamented that her former ally the Bhartiya Janata Party had failed to take any initiative in reviving the old alliance. She accused the saffron party of casting aspersions on her ever since she broke ties with the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre.
"I have resigned from the ministry, withdrawing support to the government. I have nothing to lose now. I am hopeful that the new alliance will bring an end to 24 years of Left misrule in Bengal," Mamata remarked.
Hectic parleys amongst the Congress leaders at Nath's Robinson Street residence preceded the afternoon's media briefing with Mukherjee, Nath, former PCC presidents Somen Mitra and A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury holding closed door talks for hours. Mamata arrived at Nath's house at 1430 hours. Accompanying her were the Trinamul's parliamentary party leader Sudip Bandopaddhyay, Pankaj Banerjee, Calcutta Municipal Corporation mayor Subrata Mukherjee and Sovandeb Chattopaddhyay.
After an hour of deliberations, the leaders emerged and addressed waiting scribes.
Talking to reporters, Nath said that the two parties had succeeded in breaking the deadlock on the 18 remaining seats.
Nath said, " Today's development marks a day of consolidation of the Congress and the Trinamul. Both parties stand united in their pledge to defeat the Left Front."
On the internal rumblings over allocation of seats within the Congress, Nath said that discordant notes were natural in any 'large party such as Congress.'
"However, when it comes to fighting the Left in Bengal, we get united shedding all our differences," Nath remarked.
When reminded that, not so long ago, she had called the Congress a 'B' team of the CPI-M, Mamata clarified that her criticism was prompted by different political circumstances. She hailed the Congress president Sonia Gandhi for bringing a resolution vowing to fight the Left in the party's Bangalore session recently.
"I criticised the Congress of being hand in glove with the Left because it extended outside support to the United Front government at the Centre on two occasions. But now that they have taken a pledge to oppose the Communists, I don't think that criticism holds," Mamata asserted.
The fire-brand leader, however, was placed in embarrassing predicament when a scribe asked her to comment on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. His question was related to her earlier remarks whereby she had said she has full faith in Vajpayee.
A visibly-embarrassed Mamata parried the question saying, "If you being a reporter have the liberty of asking me any question, I too have the prerogative of not replying to some."
Mamata said that her party would release its manifesto in couple of days. While Nath said that the Congress' state election committee would discuss the names of probable candidates before referring them to the party's central election committee for final approval.
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