She bumped into Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who warmly reached out to her. But Mamata was visibly upset. A short while earlier, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had launched a fierce attack on her and the Trinamool Congress over the Saradha chit fund scam. Sonia tried to placate her, saying that despite the differences their parties had, they were friends.

The piquant nature of the relationship between the Congress and the Trinamool was evident in the episode—rivals in West Bengal but in search of a common space in national politics. Though they have never been comfortable in each other’s company, they both know they need each other.

Mamata in 2019 might not have been successful, but riding high on her spectacular victory in the assembly elections, things were quite different in her recent Delhi visit. She was back in the capital again on a mission to bring down anti BJP parties together, and there was far greater hype surrounding her endeavour even as her national ambitions were all the more evident. The run up to Mamata’s visit was marked by unusual bonhomie between the Congress and Trinamool. A day ahead of her arrival, the congress tweeted about her nephew, Trinamool congress general secretary Abhisheikh Banerjee, being a suspected target of the alleged snooping using Pegasus spyware. The Trinamool responded by tweeting ‘khela Hobe’ (The game is on), a reference to Mamata’s challenge to the BJP in West Bengal elections.

Interestingly, Chowdhury, a staunch Mamata critic, said congress should not put up a candidate against her in the Bhowanipur constituency byelections. The congress had been even replacing Chowdhury as its leader in the Lok Sabha because it felt that he has antagonist relationship with the Trinamool and impeding the coordination between the two parties on the floor of the house.

In Delhi, Mamata met Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath and Anand Sharma, and lawyer politician Abhishek Manu Sanghvi, who is a Rajya Sabha member from Bengal and had appeared for the Trinamool In many cases. But the most anticipated meeting was with Sonia.

A Congress leader said that it was premature to comment on the impact the meeting would have on opposition unity, but it was clear that Mamata had realised that there could be no viable anti-BJP bloc without Congress. He said the meeting of opposition parties at NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s residence recently proved that lot of work was needed for building unity.

Also, election strategist Prashant Kishor, who worked with Mamata in the assembly election and has agreed to extend his services till Lok Sabha elections in 2024, recently met the Gandhi’s. It was crucial because he is said to have played the role of an emissary between the top leaders of two parties.

“When different parties, with varied agendas, have to be united, it requires a national party to act as glue. We may not be as strong as we used to be, but it’s only the Congress that has a pan-Indian identity and with each other parties can assemble. I believe that an opposition front can be coalesced only under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi”, said senior Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya

Even as the Congress would want to stress that Mamata’s victory in Bengal and her national endeavour are entirely different ball games, it is handling her with utmost care.

The party has been alarmed by the talk of regional parties exploring the possibility of a non-Congress front. It wants to be seen engaging with Mamata, a vocal critic of Modi. Also, in the near term, the Congress ss hopes that a better rapport with her allows for greater coordination among opposition parties in parliament

The Congress, while keeping Mamata in a good humour, is watching her moves closely.” This is not the right time to talk about who will be the face of opposition,” said Bhattacharya.

“Let Mamata try her level best. We are waiting to see how successfully she can gear up the situation. (IPA Service)