The TMC dutifully called for a nationally united Opposition to take on and defeat the BJP, especially after the Bihar Assembly polls. It has predictably reiterated its call after the keenly contested Gujarat Assembly elections too. More than any other leader, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee spares no opportunity to take potshots at the BJP on every conceivable issue from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.

However, hammering out any comprehensive, across-the-board alliance with the TMC can be a grim experience for other parties. By maintaining an intriguing reticence over the determined showing by the Congress in Gujarat elections and the efforts made by Rahul Gandhi, the TMC has deliberately not aligned itself with other Opposition parties.

TMC MP Derek O’brien has elaborately outlined how his party evaluates the present political situation in the country. Mamata Banerjee as West Bengal Chief Minister and the head of the TMC, in view of her past record of struggles and experience as central minister, was eminently suited to head a national consolidation of parties and forces to fight the BJP, in his opinion. He said this in reply to a query as to whether Rahul, now as the new young Congress president heading the largest opposition party in Parliament, should be heading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

In other words, even before the cheers have died down over Gujarat assembly polls results and the opposition parties have had their first review meeting, O’brien has laid down his party’s first not exactly modest pre-condition for others to ponder.

Significantly, Mamata had no inhibitions in treating Sonia Gandhi as the undisputed leader of the UPA. Clearly, she feels that Rahul Gandhi, a considerably younger person both in terms of his age and political experience, is not entitled to similar treatment, never mind his determined campaign in Gujarat.

One explanation doing the rounds in Kolkata is that there is an element of mutual antipathy at work here. Congress insiders in West Bengal point out that relations between Mamata and Rahul Gandhi have never been warm. ‘The two really do not get along,’ said a Congress leader. When Rahul had come to Bengal during the poll campaign for the 2016 Assembly polls, Mamata had called him ‘a seasonal bird’. ‘Coming from someone who is known for her vicious attacks on opponents, this was unusually mild, but the reason was her standing with Sonia Gandhi , not any special consideration for Rahul,’ he added.

On his part, in 2016 Rahul had refused to accept the humiliating terms set by the TMC for a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, which would have further eroded its shrinking political space. He opted to stand by party president Adhir Choudhury and his ever dwindling flock of loyal Congressmen, even as others were being bought over or enticed by the more resourceful TMC. Weak as it was, the Congress preferred electoral defeat to political subservience — a choice not highly appreciated by the TMC or its supremo.

Relations between Bengal Congress and TMC have not improved, now that 2017 is about to end. The TMC is searching desperately for allies in its fight against the BJP. In inner party discussions, TMC workers have been told to treat the BJP as the enemy no 1, not the Congress or Left parties.

Unfortunately for the TMC, neither the CPI(M)-led Left Front nor the Congress is convinced about its intentions. Win or lose the next round of polls, they remain determined to fight the TMC, not align with it even on a joint anti-BJP campaign. The Congress had some experience of politically aligning with the TMC in 2011. It was compelled to quit the ruling alliance thanks to the TMC”s highhandedness.

Between 2011 and now, all opposition parties, including the BJP, have complained of how the ruling TMC has blatantly used muscle power to win elections, used the police ruthlessly to implicate political workers in false cases and encouraged anti-socials to harass and kill them, with impunity. “To align with the TMC on any cause is like lining up with a bunch of people who can kill you if necessary,” says a Forward Bloc leader.

Rejected by major non-BJP parties in Bengal, Mamata spelt out a hard-line approach to the Congress in the state Assembly. Criticising opposition parties for their walk-outs, she pointed out that the TMC would return the compliment to the Congress in Parliament during the winter session. She meant that the close floor co-ordination between the two parties during the previous sessions would not continue. And so it has been during the ongoing winter session of Parliament.

By going its separate way, seeking to catapult Mamata Banerjee as a national, not just a state-based political leader, the TMC has in effect made any formation of a united Opposition consolidation against the ruling BJP far more difficult than before. ‘The TMC has divided the anti-BJP opposition effectively by starting a tussle for political leadership where none existed before! And who is helped by this? The ruling BJP, or course,’ says an RSP leader. (IPA Service)