West Bengal polls: Who will TMC ally with?

Kolkata, Dec 29: There is a lot of activity in West Bengal over the possible alliances when the state goes to polls next year.

While the Congress High Command in Delhi is in favour of allying with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) Party, its state unit is opposed to the idea.

The thinking in the Congress at New Delhi is to enter into an alliance at the state level keeping an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in which it expects the TMC to be a major player.

Will it be TMC or Left:

The CPM has sent across several signals to the Congress for an alliance. The TMC is down in West Bengal and feels the need for a strong alliance if it has to dislodged the TMC in the state.

However, if the indications from Delhi are anything to go by then the favoured partner would be the TMC for the Congress.

The state Congress would, however, try and oppose this alliance. A few days back the Bengal Congress President, Adhir Chowdhary even made it clear that the party would fight the polls alone.

The thinking in the state unit is that if it allies with the TMC then it would be a junior partner.

Moreover, the Congress, which has been weakened to a great extent in West Bengal, feels the need to make a difference and for this they would need to test the waters alone.

However, in Delhi the thinking is long term. They want to forge the alliance with the TMC right away keeping in mind the 2019 elections.

They feel that the TMC will be a crucial ally in the Lok Sabha elections. It is also felt that the TMC will have a bigger impact in West Bengal when compared to the Left parties.

The TMC on the other hand too would not be opposed to the idea of allying with the Congress. Both parties have put up a united front to combat the NDA at least in the Rajya Sabha.

Mamta Banerjee is likely to nurture larger ambitions in 2019 and hence would feel the need to ally with the Congress.

OneIndia News