Cong divided over Mamata meet, Rahul may not make it

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 15

Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Opposition appears to be pulling in different directions, straining national plans to forge an anti-BJP alliance against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

After the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party unilaterally stitched the crucial LS alliance keeping the Congress out, news is that all opposition stalwarts may not attend the January 19 mega rally Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called in Kolkata.

Although Banerjee, the All India Trinamool Congress chief, has sent out invitations to all opposition party heads, BSP, Congress and TRS chiefs are yet to confirm their attendance.

A top Congress source today said Gandhi was yet to return home after his UAE trip and his schedule would determine his attendance at the Mamata event. The party is, meanwhile, mulling nominating its Lok Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge to attend the Kolkata rally of Banerjee and it remains to be seen if Gandhi attends it too.

The West Bengal Congress has been asking the central party leadership to maintain distance from the TMC citing the persecution of party workers at the hands of Banerjee.

Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Choudhry today told The Tribune that Banerjee has declared she will contest all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The state Congress’ uneasiness with TMC is not lost on the central leadership which is still debating the contours of a potential Bengal alliance and whether to go with the TMC or the Left.

BSP chief Mayawati is playing her own game looking at a potential role in national politics, and it remains to be seen if she attends the January 19 event being organised by Banerjee. K Chandrashekhar Rao of the TRS, basking in the glory of a sweep in the just held Telangana elections, may not want to share the stage with rival TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu either.

The Congress too hasn’t forgotten that Banerjee nominated her party’s Lok Sabha member Dinesh Trivedi to attend the swearing in of Kamal Nath as the new CM of Madhya Pradesh recently when she was personally invited for the event. Besides it’s common knowledge that Banerjee doesn’t accept Rahul Gandhi as the face of the larger anti-BJP coalition.

Congress leaders privately feel Banerjee’s show of Opposition strength on Jan 19 may more or less become a show of her personal political strength.

‘Why back didi’

The TMC has even started campaigning. CM Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly spoken of contesting all 42 seats. Why should we engage the TMC when they have already taken a stand? Adhir Ranjan Choudhry, Bengal Cong Chief