With no TMC tie-up, Bengal Congress in disarray

Many Congress leaders unwilling to contest elections in the Lok Sabha polls

The Congress party may be putting up a brave face in public, voicing against any tie-up with Trinamool Congress, but the hard reality of tough electoral challenge has left many top Bengal Congressmen in panic. While top state Congress leaders like Pradip Bhattacharya and Manas Bhunia are 'unwilling' to contest the Lok Sabha poll, another probable Congress candidate and former cricketer Azharuddin has gone to the extent of seeking Mamata's help to secure electoral success.

At least three Congress   leaders-Pradip Bhattacharya,Manas Bhunia and Abdul Mannan-have expressed their unwillingness to contest Lok Sabha poll in their meeting with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi yesterday.While Bhattacharya argued that young faces should be given a chance, ManasBhunia suggested he would prefer his wife to contest the poll. Mannan, on the other hand, cited health issues as a reason for his unwillingness to contest poll.

However, newly appointed West Bengal CongressPresident,AdhirRanjan Chowdhury insisted that all top state leaders should take up the challenge in this difficult time, and Rahul Gandhi was understood to have supported the junior railway minister on this.Speaking to Business Standard one of the 'unwilling' candidates said,"We have said what we don't want to, but if the high command insists, we will have to contest." However, he denied that their unwillingness has anything to do with fear of electoral defeat in the absence of any tie-up with TMC.

However, the effort of former cricketer Azharuddin who is expected to contest on Congress ticket from Bengal to reach out to Mamata seeking support, is the biggest manifestation of panic in the Congress.Sources say, the former cricketer recently had sent a text message to Mamata Banerjee asking her not field a candidate against him. However,TMC sources said, TMC leader Mukul Roy later got back to Azharuddin onlyto explain that TMC was in no position to go for any electoral understanding with the Congress in the Lok Sabha poll.

However, the only exception seems to be Somen Mitra, who recently quit TMC to make acomeback to Congress. Mitra himself has agreed to contest the poll from Kolkata North constituency. In fact, sources said, in his meeting with state Congress leaders yesterday, Rahul Gandhi cited Mitra's example to pursue unwilling state Congress leaders to contest upcoming Lok Sabha poll. As Congress is very soon going to come out with its list of candidates for the 42 seats in West Bengal, with Rahul Gandhi's insistence, it may enlist many of the “unwilling”candidates.