New Delhi, February 17
The Left parties and the Congress, who are pitted against each other in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Kerala and West Bengal, are presently engaged in a cat and mouse game with each other.
If the Congress is baiting the Marxists by going out of its way to negotiate with their bete noire Trinamul leader Mamata Bannerjee, the CPM has hit back by wooing two strong UPA allies, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) by giving them four seats from its quota for the West Bengal election.
The CPM and the NCP have also tied up against the Congress in Assam where the two are trying to build a Third Front with the help of smaller groups, including the Prafulla Mahanta-led Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
As soon as the CPM put out its list of candidates last night, upset West Bengal Congress leaders got in touch with Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also the WBPCC President. Mr Mukherjee, it is learnt, called up NCP chief Sharad Pawar to dissuade him from joining hands with the CPM in West Bengal on the plea it will send out a wrong signal. He is also reported to have offered two seats to the NCP from the Congress as the two are natural allies.
While the Congress is hoping to win over Mr Pawar, it may be more difficult to convince RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav who publicly stated that he will be campaigning for the Left Front in the West Bengal Assembly elections.
The CPM’s attempts to befriend the UPA allies is meant to keep the Congress in check by constantly reminding it about the possibility of the formation of a Third Front. As it is, relations between the Left parties and the UPA Government have come under severe strain over the latter’s foreign and economic policies.
The Left parties have, however, kept their options open. They have decided not to have any alliance with expelled Congress leader K.Karunakaran in the coming Kerala election. It is hoping the Congress will reciprocate by not doing business with Trinamul leader Mamata Bannerjee.
Although the Congress has officially stated that an alliance with Mamata will be possible only if she severs her links with the NDA, AICC General Secretary Margaret Alva, in charge of West Bengal, has held several rounds of meetings with her.
A section of WBPCC is pressing the Central leadership to have an electoral pact with the Trinamul as it would consolidate the anti-Left vote. However, senior leaders like Pranab Mukherjee believe that as long as Mamata is identified with the
BJP, any understanding with her will erode the Congress’ support base among the minorities.
