In Malda district where her smaller electoral ally, the Congress, has had a larger presence, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee went the extra mile on Sunday to say that the alliance partners should work together to ensure victory for their candidates.
After much deliberation it was decided last month that the Trinamool would be contesting in 226 Assembly constituencies and the Congress in 65 as against the 98 seats (one-third of the total) its leaders in West Bengal had sought. Ms. Banerjee's unilateral announcement of her party's list of candidates had not gone down well with the Congress, resulting in misgivings within its ranks.
But at Habibpur, first in the series of election rallies she would be addressing in north Bengal which goes to the polls on April 18, Ms. Banerjee said: “In the seats where the Congress is contesting we will support its candidates; in all the seats where the Trinamool is contesting the Congress will support us.”
Her decision to put up her party candidates in certain areas where the Congress had a stronger presence resulted in some senior leaders of the Congress with considerable influence in their respective districts, including Malda, threatening to put up rebels who would contest as Independents in some constituencies the Trinamool had set aside for itself.
Against such a backdrop, Ms. Banerjee, while making clear the “official” decision about the alliance, pointed out at the rally that the putting up of Independent candidates was part of the design of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). “In certain places the CPI(M) is working together with the BJP in West Bengal,” she alleged.
Coming down strongly against the CPI(M) and the Left Front government for ignoring the needs of the people in matters related to development, she said “the coming vote is for change.”
“The government that will be set up in the coming days will be that of ‘ma, mati, manush' [mother, soil and people — her party slogan] government, not a CPI(M) government. Remember change is coming to West Bengal,” Ms. Banerjee said.
