NEW DELHI: When West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee hit out at Congress and the Left parties in the same breath as BJP on Thursday, calling it an “immoral” alliance, after her party lost the bypoll for the Sagardighi assembly seat in Murshidabad district, and went all the way to announce that she will go it alone in the 20204 Lok Sabha polls, the message against opposition unity to counter the ruling BJP in 2024, was clear. It was exactly what BJP is hoping for – opposition disunity – that has been to its advantage since 2014.
“For the Sagardighi loss, I do not blame anyone. Sometimes, in a democracy, developments may usually be positive or negative. But, there is an immoral alliance, which we strongly condemn. The BJP transferred its votes to the Congress,” Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata. “In the 2024 elections, the TMC will go it alone. We will fight with people’s support. I believe those who want to defeat the BJP will certainly vote for the TMC,” she added.
Now, Congress declared at its Raipur conclave last week how it will be working towards a strategy to unite the opposition camp, but Thursday’s election results have shown that there is a lot of rethink that needs to go into such a “strategy” if at all there is any intent of making it happen on the ground.
While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked TMC in Meghalaya and elsewhere during last week’s election rallies, clearly angry for TMC to be working as a spanner in the works in the north eastern states, for Congress, and splitting opposition votes, Banerjee too has been upset about the ganging up against TMC in Bengal by Congress and Left, instead of “fighting BJP” together.
According to party insiders “if TMC is seen as helping BJP by splitting opposition votes, how is Congress or Left doing any different for that matter.”
It is an interesting question, but the answer that lies in the wind is a split opposition verdict that only help the saffron surge.
The silver lining for the opposition camp is the timing of this public falling out between the parties that have been talking about a united opposition to the ruling BJP. With exactly a year to go for the general elections, it is to be seen whether they decide to put their act together or continue to bicker about who should lead the pack by virtue of each one’s might on the ground.
“For the Sagardighi loss, I do not blame anyone. Sometimes, in a democracy, developments may usually be positive or negative. But, there is an immoral alliance, which we strongly condemn. The BJP transferred its votes to the Congress,” Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata. “In the 2024 elections, the TMC will go it alone. We will fight with people’s support. I believe those who want to defeat the BJP will certainly vote for the TMC,” she added.
Now, Congress declared at its Raipur conclave last week how it will be working towards a strategy to unite the opposition camp, but Thursday’s election results have shown that there is a lot of rethink that needs to go into such a “strategy” if at all there is any intent of making it happen on the ground.
While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked TMC in Meghalaya and elsewhere during last week’s election rallies, clearly angry for TMC to be working as a spanner in the works in the north eastern states, for Congress, and splitting opposition votes, Banerjee too has been upset about the ganging up against TMC in Bengal by Congress and Left, instead of “fighting BJP” together.
According to party insiders “if TMC is seen as helping BJP by splitting opposition votes, how is Congress or Left doing any different for that matter.”
It is an interesting question, but the answer that lies in the wind is a split opposition verdict that only help the saffron surge.
The silver lining for the opposition camp is the timing of this public falling out between the parties that have been talking about a united opposition to the ruling BJP. With exactly a year to go for the general elections, it is to be seen whether they decide to put their act together or continue to bicker about who should lead the pack by virtue of each one’s might on the ground.
