Desperate to stop chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s party — Trinamul Congress — from sweeping away the upcoming panchayat election, the beleaguered CPI(M) is eyeing a “secret pact” with the Congress in the state. Significantly, both CPI(M) and Congress are now in the Opposition camp and have been extremely vocal against several policy decisions the Trinamul Congress government.
CPI(M) insiders revealed that the scope of a possible tie-up with the party with whom the Communists had severed ties with and withdrew support from the UPA-1 government in 2008 arose during the two-day CPI(M) state committee meeting held at the party headquarters at Alimuddin Street last week. Prominent faces, including party state secretary Biman Bose and former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had attended the meeting.
After examining the districts’ reports about the dearth of suitable candidates for the rural polls, senior Marxist leaders appeared not averse to joining hands with the state Congress since the latter is also in an attacking mood against the ruling party, sources disclosed.
Weighing an option, they evolved a strategy of a tie-up in private with the Congress at the grassroots level, party insiders indicated.
One outcome of this “secret pact”, as a senior leader explained on the condition of anonymity, could be fielding an independent candidate instead of CPI(M) candidate in a panchayat seat which happens to be a stronghold of the Congress. Although many Marxist leaders are convinced that their tactic could deal a blow to the Trinamul Congress, the final decision would be taken by the central committee members of the party, he added.
In another key decision to harp on the sentiments of the party’s rank and file before the polls, the CPI(M) is planning to take party MLA Abdur Rezzak Mollah, also a state committee member, to the party programmes later in February to highlight the ruling party’s attack in which he suffered injuries and had to be admitted at the hospital.
Sources added that Mr Mollah is expected to speak at the district rallies about his nightmarish experience on January 6 when former Trinamul MLA Arabul Islam and his aides had allegedly thrashed him at Bhangar in South 24 Parganans.