Date:10/01/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/01/10/stories/2006011004351300.htm

National

Congress, Mamata to discuss alliance

Special Correspondent

It is conditional on her leaving the NDA

Congress offers Mamata to lead anti-Left alliance
Ball now in Mamata's court, says Congress

Left `afraid' of Opposition parties uniting, it says

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and the Congress leadership in West Bengal will soon discuss the latter's invitation to her to lead a "secular" anti-Left alliance for the Assembly polls provided she dissociates herself from the National Democratic Alliance.

The Congress' decision was taken at a recent meeting of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) presided over by its president, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

"We [the Congress] will be sitting for talks with Ms. Banerjee with the offer shortly," party working president Pradip Bhattacharya told The Hindu here on Monday. Mr. Mukherjee and Ms. Banerjee had earlier discussed the possibility of forging an alliance days ahead of the WBPCC meeting.

"Any sacrifice"

"The Congress is willing to make any political sacrifice to have Ms. Banerjee lead an anti-Left Front provided she leaves the NDA," State Congress general secretary Manas Bhuniya said. "The process of forging an alliance is on despite her recent meeting with the new BJP president Rajnath Singh and the NDA leader George Fernandes in New Delhi. We [the Congress] have opened our doors to her. The ball is now in her court," he added.

Even though Ms. Banerjee has made clear her intentions of not disowning the NDA, the "Congress believes there is a chance of accepting the party's offer and leading an anti-Left political combination in the coming elections," Mr. Bhattacharya said. "In politics such change [in alignments] is always possible," he added.

The Left Front is aware of the possibility of such an arrangement. Jyoti Basu, the former Chief Minister and senior member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has repeatedly said that even though there might not be any formal alliance, the Opposition parties, including the BJP, were working towards a covert electoral understanding.

"Left afraid"

Reacting to Mr. Basu's statement, Mr. Bhattacharya said: "They [the Left] are afraid of Opposition parties uniting against them. But the question of a covert understanding does not arise as the choice of candidates contesting against the Left will be public knowledge." Ms. Banerjee, on an earlier occasion, had emphasised the need for a "one-to-one" contest with the Left parties in the elections.