TMC to contest alone if Congress delays

Alliance in Chennai is back in track. But for the Congress, coalition in Kolkata is heading for a tough negotiation as Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is in no mood to bow down like DMK in front of Congress’ demand for more seats.

While the Congress has asked for 98 seats and ready to settle for 70-75 seats, Banerjee’s party is in no mood to give more than 65 seats. Banerjee has so far offered 58 seats to the Congress.

In the case of DMK-Congress tussle, the top leadership of the two parties was constantly in touch with each other. Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Ahmed and even Sonia Gandhi spoke to DMK leaders. In the case of Trinamool and Congress bargain game, the second-rung leaders are currently engaged in negotiations.

After just one round of meeting with Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday, Banerjee has left for Kolkata leaving the field to trusted lieutenant and Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy to talk with Bengal Congress unit chief Manas Bhuiyan.

Trinamool sources claim that Banerjee is already prepared for fighting alone in the election; something she did last year for the civic polls after talks broke down between the two sides.

In their internal estimate, Trinamool leadership thinks they can win at least 155 out of 294 seats even if it fights alone. In case of a coalition, the coalition numbers can go up to even 220 seats.

Banerjee has told her close confidants that if the Congress tries to delay matters further, she will unilaterally announce her candidates leaving 58 seats for the Congress.

As it was in the case of DMK, where central leadership and state unit of the Congress had divergent views about coalition, in Bengal too, there are differences of opinion in the Congress over the formula for alliance. Bhuiyan, Lok Sabha MP Deepa Dasmunshi and some other top leaders want at least 70 seats from the Trinamool.

But Pranab Mukherjee, who holds a key position in Bengal affairs, believes focusing on “quantity” of seats rather than its “quality” could be futile.

While Banerjee is not keen to give any seats in Kolkata (it has 11 assembly seats) the Congress is adamant on two seats from the city.

There are a lot of similarities for the Congress between its tussle with the DMK and the brinkmanship with Banerjee.

But there is one major difference: Banerjee’s equation with Sonia Gandhi is far better than that of the DMK. This personal bonding is likely to be the deciding factor in shaping up the final form of the alliance.