West Bengal: CPI(M), TMC game for a tie-up with Congress in 2019 to defeat BJP

The Left in Bengal is game for a tie-up with the Congress in 2019. Even TMC is no longer taboo.

Romita Datta
November 16, 2017 | UPDATED 08:54 IST
A red hand: A Park Maidan rally in Kolkata during the 2016 polls. Photo: Subir HalderA red hand: A Park Maidan rally in Kolkata during the 2016 polls. Photo: Subir Halder

Former CPI(M) general secretary and hardliner Prakash Karat, who till now was holding out on a tie-up with the Congress for Lok Sabha elections 2019, has reportedly had a change of heart. Just last week, the issue had come up for vote at the central committee meeting in Delhi, with the Karat-led faction (mostly consisting of Kerala unit leaders, where the party is on a strong wicket and the Congress is the principal opposition) winning a close verdict, 33-31, to not go with the Congress.

Karat's change of heart is especially important for Bengal. A former Left bastion, the party is now in total disarray here, with the saffron party making a big noise. "It's a question of survival, reservations of the past cannot hold," says a West Bengal state committee member, requesting anonymity. Lok Sabha MP and politburo member Mohammed Salim says: "The nation is facing a crisis. We will support any alliance that will take on the fascist forces and stem the economic paralysis."

Incidentally, ruling Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is also talking on similar lines. "Our leader has always said that we have to drive the communal BJP out of Bengal. Whichever party is ready to join us in this war is welcome," says education minister Partha Chatterjee.

However, a grand alliance may not be so easy. The Bengal unit of the Congress is not sure if a tie-up with the "anarchic" TMC will improve its prospects in the state. "I would rather think that Congress workers and supporters, who are suffering on the ground because of the TMC's atrocities, would prefer to vote for the BJP," says Opposition leader Abdul Mannan. At the same time, he added that in 2019, national interest would have to prevail over state priorities and sentiments.

The Left believes that a tie-up between the Congress and TMC in 2019 is inevitable. "We are working on an 'adjustable line' right now. Without getting into a direct coalition, we might go into seat adjustment as we did in the 2016 state polls or we could even support the party that has the best chance of defeating the BJP," says a veteran party member.

Such an equation on earlier occasions would have kept the Left away. But as CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on September 7, "Conditions on the ground have changed since 2015, so our alignments will have to change accordingly." Going with the TMC might still be too much of an ask, but supporting a broader platform, which includes the latter, to keep the BJP away might not be unwelcome after all.