Mamata’s backing of Congress in Nandigram bypoll signals possible reset in Bengal opposition politics

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Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that she wanted to send a message about the future of the opposition alliance beginning from Bengal. | Photo Credit: PTI

Former West Bengal Chief Minister’s support to the Congress candidate in the Nandigram assembly bypoll is a striking reversal of decades of political rivalry, observers feel, signalling a possible recalibration of opposition politics in the State at a time when the TMC is battling its deepest organisational crisis.

Ms. Banerjee's decision to back Milan Pradhan came hours after her faction's nominee, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew from the October 6 contest following a meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari in Kolkata.

The Election Commission had, meanwhile, frozen the Trinamool Congress' traditional name and ‘Jora Ghash Phul’ symbol amid an internal party dispute, allotting Ms. Banerjee's faction and her dissidents separate names and symbols for the upcoming bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar.

Announcing support for Mr. Pradhan on September 18, Ms. Banerjee had described Congress as a "sister party" and a "natural ally", saying the decision was taken in the larger interest of the country and to strengthen the INDIA bloc.

Ms. Banerjee had also said that she wanted to send a message about the future of the opposition alliance beginning from Bengal.

The timing of this extension of olive branch, however, gives the move a distinctly tactical dimension. Ms. Banerjee's camp had initially fielded a candidate in Nandigram and only withdrew from the contest after the nominee pulled out.

Her support for the Congress therefore represents both an attempt to prevent division of the anti-BJP vote and a political response to an unusually difficult moment for her faction, say observers.

The development has acquired further resonance after Mr. Pradhan was arrested in connection with a case linked to the 2007 Nandigram land agitation, shortly after Ms. Banerjee's announcement, and jailed.

The irony, however, is difficult to miss. Ms. Banerjee herself emerged from the Congress, breaking away in the late 1990s to establish the TMC as a vehicle to challenge the Left Front, and what she regarded as the Congress' inadequate opposition to the CPI(M). Yet, the two parties have periodically returned to each other when confronted by a larger political adversary.

They fought the 2001 Bengal Assembly election together after Ms. Banerjee severed ties with the NDA, and later joined hands again during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. The alliance reached its high point in 2011, when Congress and TMC jointly ended the Left Front's 34-year rule in Bengal.

But, the partnership subsequently collapsed as differences over policy, seat-sharing, and the functioning of the State government intensified.

The relationship became particularly acrimonious during Ms. Banerjee's 15-year rule.