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April      Last updated: April  8,  5:00 p.m.

Congress debacle rattles CPM

The biennial Rajya Sabha elections will be remembered for cross-voting leading to allegations of money bags having bought votes. But the cross voting in West Bengal was not only different, it has left 10 Janpath cold and stiff. The cross voting has shattered not only West Bengal Congress but also Sonia Gandhi herself, because on March 30, her party's spokesman was literally speechless before mediapersons. It was celebration time at the residence of Mamata Banerjee. Jayanta Bhattacharya, who was fielded by her for the Rajya Sabha, who could count on the support of just four members of the State Assembly romped home victorious. Deba Prasad Roy who was handpicked by Sonia Gandhi, by denying at the last moment the Rajya Sabha ticket to Somen Mitra, was defeated. Congress MLAs of UP, Orissa, Rajasthan and Karnataka too have indulged in cross voting. However, the cross voting by more than half the Congress Members of the WB State Assembly amounts to revolt by almost the entire State unit against the arbitrary manner in which Sonia Gandhi imposed her candidate on the West Bengal unit. The open defiance of the party president by such a large number of MLAs points to only one direction—a large section of Congressmen in West Bengal are heading toward's Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress which will have a far-reaching impact on West Bengal politics.

It is not for nothing that both Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and the CPI-M State Secretary Anil Biswas have expressed annoyance at this development in the Congress party—for long treated by Mamata as the "B" team of the CPI-M. If we analyse this cross voting it should not be forgetten that the Trinamool Congress was not in existence when the State Assembly elections were held. Hence for official purposes, all 78 MLAs elected on the hand symbol are Congress MLAs, although three of these people have announced their affinity (not affiliation) with the Trinamool Congress. One BJP Member, Badal Bhattacharya, too supported Jayanta Bhattacharya, who was fielded by Mamata Banerjee. But instead of the only four sure votes, he polled 44 while the Congress nominee polled only 36 votes. Anyone familiar with Mamata's record will dismiss any suggestion that money played any role. The Left Front had its ranks fully united in returning four nominees. So there was no cross voting from that side. Therefore of the 78 Congress MLAs of West Bengal, 42 or 43 voted for Jayanta Bhattacharya. According to Bartaman, on March 28, the Pradesh Congress chief A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury telephoned Mamata, "blessing" her for her effort.

It is obvious, he was extending full support to her in splitting the Congress Legislature Party. Bartaman suggests that only a seasoned political strategist like Somen Mitra could bring about such a coup. It also says that although some Congress leaders expressed regret at this cross voting, their words and the expressions on their faces did not match. Will Sonia Gandhi ask leader of the CLP to identify the cross voters and expel them? Most of them will welcome it. For, with more than 50 per cent of the total Members of the CLP defying the party whip, these MLAs can easily form a separate group under the Anti-defection Act and claim recognition as the main opposition party. All of them then almost certainly will join Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress. This will have an immediate impact on the muncipal and local bodies elections due soon in the State in which the losers will not be the Congress alone, but the CPI-M led Left Front too. Thereafter will come the State Assembly elections either in March 2001 or even earlier. With the West Bengal Congress virtually disintegrating and the Trinamool-BJP alliance surging ahead in many districts in the State, the real threat from the March 29 developments is to the Left Front, not the Congress. This development makes the overthrowing of the Left Front Government in the 2001 Assembly elections a distinct possibility, only if the two parties (BJP and Tinamool) are able to prevent the large-scale scientific rigging of elections undertaken by the CPI-M and its allies. Thus both Sonia Gandhi and Harkishen Singh Surjeet will now have to devise newer strategies to prevent the Communists from achieving their ultimate resting place—the dustbin of history.