Congress sets stable governance precondition for 2011 poll alliance

The Congress is committed to its alliance with Trinamool Congress in the forthcoming assembly elections of West Bengal but now it seems, Sonia Gandhi’s party has inserted a new clause in the agreement - of good and stable governance - as the price for its support.

Over the past few days, Trinamool’s two key interlocutors (both MPs from Lok Sabha) have held meetings with the Congress brass in Delhi to discuss the future of the alliance and the prospects in the forthcoming assembly polls. In these meetings, the Congress leadership has categorically assured that it would continue to support Trinamool in Bengal ahead of the poll to see that the Left Front is ousted. But it has asked Mamata Banerjee, the Railway Minister, to address the concerns about good and stable governance. “The current political trend shows that the Congress and Trinamool alliance have a bright chance of coming to power in 2011 election. But the question is: will that government last its full five year term? Will the coalition be able to provide a good government? We have asked Banerjee’s party to address these two key issues,” said a top Congress leader.

Congress’ concerns have emerged primarily from Banerjee's track record during her latest stint as Railway Minister. Not only has she regularly skipped key meetings (she was absent from the full Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday) but her two budgets have paid no heed to the Prime Minister and Planning Commission’s advice for revenue generation and reform.

A few days before presenting her Budget, the Railway Minister faced flak from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for seeking approvals for as many as 24 new projects without any financial back up. In front of the Prime Minister, Mukherjee told Banerjee that he will pass the projects but not give any financial assistance.

The Congress leadership was also miffed with Banerjee for repeatedly opposing the UPA government’s decision to assist the state in armed operations against the Maoists. Although Banerjee has now become vocal against the disruptive Maoist forces, the political opponents got the opportunity to highlight the internal differences between the two allies and the Left promptly built up a campaign linking Banerjee’s party with the Maoists.

The brass is also worried about Banerjee’s stated position on land issues and feels industrialization in West Bengal may suffer severe blow if Trinamool continues along this track. Banerjee, however, has categorically stated that she is not anti-industry and wants both industry and agriculture to grow together. The latest assertions of the Congress camp has raised questions in Trinamool and the latter feels these “apprehensions” might be leveraged by the Congress at a later stage to extract more political dividends from its junior partner.