Once the unopposed leader of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee is today cowering with anxiety. Having ruled the state with an iron fist, her level of corruption and anarchy is such that the voters are willing to elect anyone but Mamata. Such is the state of despair that today the TMC supremo is having a tough time to even establish herself as the opposition leader. In a twist of circumstances that have left Mamata barely gasping for air, a third front has come up in West Bengal to push her to the third position in the forthcoming assembly elections.
The left front in West Bengal, quite possibly in the same state of despair that Mamata is in, has been quietly working behind the scenes to present a worthy opponent to BJP in the state. The CPM has brought in 11 parties, including the NCP, DMK and the Congress, to issue a joint statement against the BJP government on the farm laws. This development is crucial given that the statement has come on the very day that Congress high command gave its Bengal unit the go-ahead for entering into a seat-sharing deal with the Left parties for the upcoming assembly elections.
Today the Congress High command has formally approved the electoral alliance with the #Left parties in the impending election of West Bengal.@INCIndia@INCWestBengal
— Adhir Chowdhury (@adhirrcinc) December 24, 2020
Commenting on this development, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “We have to fight against the BJP and Mamata Banerjee both because we have been subjected to persecution by the ruling dispensation in West Bengal.”
This statement of Chowdhury signifies Congress’ main motive is to form a strong front against TMC. The grand old party is attempting to make the elections a three-way battle between BJP, TMC and itself.
For this, they have amassed the support of 11 parties. The joint statement against the BJP was signed by Congress, NCP, DMK, J&K PAGD, SP, RJD, CPM, CPI, CPI(ML), Forward Bloc and RSP. Congress-Left alliance is trying to garner strength through a show of numbers.
This development is very troublesome for Mamata Banerjee, who was already shoring up nationwide support for her campaign against the BJP. As per reports, Mamata had reached out to NCP chief Sharad Pawar and was planning to invite DMK chief MK Stalin, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and others for a joint opposition rally in Kolkata in January. She was attempting to stitch a national alliance of opposition parties to take on the BJP at a state-level.
Taking a cue from her own strategies, the Congress-Left alliance is doing just that and unfortunately, the result is going to be extremely detrimental to Mamata.
The TMC supremo is falling apart from all fronts. From losing her grassroots level leaders to the voters indicating their very obvious preferences towards BJP’s governance model, Mamata Banerjee is at her wit’s end. 11 MLAs, an MP, and a former MP has recently quit the TMC to join BJP.
Now, it is not just BJP but the Congress-Left alliance that Mamata Banerjee has to worry about. Such is the grim state of affairs that Mamata will have to lead a very tough fight to even become the leader of opposition in West Bengal.