Trinamool to attend Sonia's dinner meeting for Opposition parties

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not be attending a dinner meeting called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, but her party will be represented at the meeting.

Party MP Sudip Bandopadhyay is likely to represent Banerjee at the meeting of Opposition parties that comes soon after the Rajya Sabha nominations where the TMC has already displayed its support to Congress by lending its extra votes to Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi to the Upper House.

"The chief minister (Banerjee) is slated to be on a tour of north Bengal districts as that had been scheduled much in advance," one of her MPs told TOI, when asked about TMC attending the dinner for Opposition parties by the Congress leader.

While Banerjee was one of the first movers of opposition unity against the ruling BJP, her enthusiasm to be part of it slowed down following Rahul Gandhi taking over as Congress president from his mother Sonia Gandhi and Congress decided to move alone is state elections where the party was pitted directly against BJP, even as Banerjee had suggested that the opposition parties should walk together and campaign together in a show of solidarity whether in Gujarat or Tripura.

But, just when there was talk of a "third front" coming up, excluding Congress, in the opposition space, following Banerjee's conversations with TRS, TDP and Shiv Sena leaders just before Parliament opened for the second leg of the Budget Session, Banerjee heeded to Sonia Gandhi's request to back Singhvi to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal as Congress was falling short of votes from the state.

By supporting Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha, Banerjee blocked the possibility of a Left-Congress alliance for the seat, and the move could well be a precursor to an alliance between TMC and Congress for the 2019 polls.

However, with Banerjee announcing that TMC has backed Singhvi on the "request of Congress" she has also sent out a message that any future alliance will have to honour TMC's terms as an equal partner. With a year to go for the Lok Sabha polls, this bargaining is likely to be played out for some more time now.