The Congress Party will have a different electoral approach in West Bengal. West Bengal has 42 Lok Sabha seats, and the state has the third largest LS seats in India after the States of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The States was synonymous with the Communist parties from 1977 till 2011. But in 2011 afterward, the State is now in the political grip of Mamata Banerjee. But after the 2019 elections at all levels, Mamata Banerjee is being challenged by the resurgent BJP. Mamata Banerjee knew well that the BJP had the potential to unseat her from State power and so she wants that other parties to extend support to her on their own in order to get rid of the BJP in the State. The Congress party and the Communist parties are the other parties in West Bengal. State politics in West Bengal is polarised between the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and the BJP. Other parties are redundant in State politics as of now.
The Congress party should read into the intentions of Mamata Banerjee earlier and mend its ways. Mamata Banerjee defected the lone MLA of the Congress party, Bayron Biswas, who won the Sagardighi seat assembly by-poll in Murshidabad district. The seat is completely Muslim-dominated, and the Congress party was in 3rd spot in 2021 Assembly elections behind the AITC and the BJP. In the by-poll held due to the demise of the AITC MLA, the Congress party won the by-poll. But sooner than later, the AITC engineered the Congress party, with MLA Bayron Biswas joining the party.
The Congress party drew blanks in 2021 West Bengal Assembly election, and again, the party came to zero after Sagardighi MLA Bayron Biswas joined the AITC. In many states, including Andhra Pradesh, NCT of Delhi, Nagaland, and Sikkim, and now in West Bengal too, the Congress party has no representative in the Assembly.
Now the Congress party will use its tested policy of Bihar in WB too. In Bihar, in 2009 LS election, the Congress party put forward candidates who could defeat the candidates of Lalu Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan’s alliance, the Fourth Front. Even Laloo Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan also lost their own elections. In the 2010 Bihar Assembly election, the Congress party again used this ploy, and the tally of the RJD and the LJP came to 22 and 3 seats, respectively, in spite of the alliance between these parties. After cutting down on the on the size to Laloo Yadav led RJD, the Congress party is using the RJD as its equal partner. In the 2020 Bihar Assembly election, the Congress party got 70 seats in an alliance. It was only due to the spoiling effect of the Congress party.
Now its time for Mamata Banerjee to get similar treatment from the Congress party as that of Laloo Yadav. In this 2024 LS election and in the 2026 Assembly election in West Bengal, the Congress party will cut Mamata Banerjee down to size and then go for an alliance with her on its own terms.
In the ongoing LS election in WB, the Congress party is contesting under SDA (Secular Democratic Alliance) with the Communist parties. The Congress and the Communist parties will try to heal the political wound given by Mamata Banerjee by inflicting her severe electoral defeat. Mamata Banerjee’s sudden departure from I.N.D.I Alliance and announcing all her candidates without consulting Congress and others shocked them shocked which is not easy for them to forget. Mamata Banerjee’s political allergy towards Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary is also a case in point: Mamata does not tolerate strong and vociferous personalities.
After giving the Congress party such a wound, Mamata rubbed the salt to injury by saying that she is still part of the I.N.D.I Alliance. Mamata ensured Bhadohi LS seat for her candidate Lalitesh Pati Tripathi within I.N.D.I Alliance in Uttar Pradesh . This shows the helplessness and weakness of the INDI Alliance. Mamata Banerjee has only remained a channel open with the INDI Alliance to blackmail them for the convenor’s post of the alliance in the post-poll scenario. Mamata Banerjee sensed the imminent defeat of the INDI Alliance and made distance with them with a small window, only to put her candidature for the top post in 2029 within I.N.D.I Alliance. As per many experts, Mamata deserted the INDI Alliance as she was not projected as the PM candidate within the alliance.
