Mamata not to contest Bengal assembly polls

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, hailed as the chief minister candidate by her party Trinamool Congress, will not contest the upcoming assembly election. She announced today that she will be busy campaigning all over the state.

Trinamool sources emphasise that she will be their chief minister candidate and she will get elected later from a suitable assembly seat if the party comes to power.

“It is not compulsory that I have to enter the contest. I can lead the government, if the people want, without contesting the elections, because a constitutional provision exists for getting elected within six months of the new Assembly being formed,” Banerjee said.

While talks of alliance with DMK in Tamil Nadu is going at a snail’s pace, the Congress is facing pressure from another UPA partner—Trinamool Congress in West Bengal--  to quickly wrap the tie-up for the upcoming assembly election. Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee wants to close the deal within the next three-four days and expects a formal announcement from Delhi on the alliance.

She returned to Delhi on Wednesday with an eye to hold meetings with the top Congress leadership including party president Sonia Gandhi on the seat sharing deal. As a section of the Bengal unit of Congress is jittery about the alliance, Banerjee wants an endorsement from the Congress central command to make it binding for the state unit.

Initially the Congress wants around 80 seats in Bengal from Banerjee. But the Railway Minister, who led the party in sweeping the recent elections in Bengal, is in no mood to concede more than 60 seats. Banerjee is also unlikely to give any seat to the Congress in Kolkata. During the civic polls held last year, seat negotiations for Kolkata Municipality had failed and the two parties fought separately.

West Bengal will go for six-phase polling starting from 18 April. Banerjee told reporters that as there is barely one and a half month left for the election, the alliance needs to be finalized soon. The Congress is seen taking a long time to finalize its seat sharing with the DMK in Tamil Nadu. Even as a team of negotiators has been formed for Tamil Nadu, talks have not progressed well so far.

In Tamil Nadu, the Congress was initially eyeing a deal with Vijayakanth’s DMDK party but in Bengal it is likely to go along with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress.