As such, she followed up her criticism of the Congress heir apparent by refusing to invite Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee to a railway function, where President Pratibha Patil was present.

There have also been earlier instances of such discourtesy shown by the Trinamool Congress leader against the chief minister. Given her aversion towards the CPI(M) leader, the former Governor, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, found it difficult to keep them in the same picture frame when he was trying to bring about a reconciliation between the state government and the main opposition party on the Singur affair.

Mamata's rudeness towards the chief minister is understandable because she evidently does not regard politics as a gentleman's game, at least in West Bengal. She has reasons for such an attitude in view of the recourse to violence by CPI(M) supporters against her party members and herself personally, which had once led to her hospitalization with a bandaged head.

But what is less easy to understand is her dismissive and even contemptuous treatment of her own electoral ally, the Congress. If the latter still remains a partner, the reason apparently is that its own weakness dissuades it from going it alone. Besides, the party is convinced that it will come to power on the Trinamool's coattails in next year's assemble elections and get a few ministerial positions.

As far as Mamata is concerned, she is not only sure that she will win, but also that the people will be voting specifically for her rather than for Trinamool or the Congress. Hence, her brusqueness towards one and all. However, in making Rahul the target of her acidic tongue, she has shown that she is no respecter of persons. For a conventional politician, it would have been wise to direct fire only at the local Congressmen while treading carefully with regard to the central leaders, especially a member of the country's foremost political dynasty.

But the Trinamool leader is nothing if not honest. Dissembling is alien to her nature. What is more, she is so paranoid about guarding her turf that she takes umbrage even at Rahul's purported efforts to revive the Congress in West Bengal although it is an open secret that it is an uphill, near impossible task - at least at present. But for Mamata, who is used to dealing with a virtual non-entity like Manas Bhuiyan, who is the state Congress president, the sight of the handsome young prince creating some stir in favour of the moribund Congress was clearly unacceptable.

She lashed out, therefore, at the cuckoos who fly in at election time, chirrup and then fly away. To her, they are nothing but dumoorer phool or a flower which is rarely seen. There is little doubt that Rahul has not faced such jibes before. Given his age, apparent sincerity and likeable persona, most of his political opponents have treated him with kid gloves. For instance, all that the former BJP president, Rajnath Singh, said about him was that he was a child, a bacchha.

However, Mamata may have known that Rahul will not respond. To him, the railway minister - apart from being an ally - is a senior leader with a much longer experience in a field which he has only recently entered. In fact, no two persons can be more different than the feisty lady from a middle class background and the scion of the Congress's first family. While she has risen from the ranks by the dint of her own determination and courage in confronting an entrenched and belligerent adversary, he has parachuted down from above and is learning the ropes the hard way by even an occasional exercise in slumming by spending nights in Dalit homes.

Ironically, they both belong essentially to the same party though now they have different names. But while Rahul's importance in the organization is second only to his mother, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Mamata was never able to obtain a secure place in the Congress's West Bengal unit for two reasons. One was her mercurial temperament which made it difficult for the party bosses to control her. And the other was their envy when she gradually began to make an impression on the electorate with her simple lifestyle and determination to take on the CPI(M).

The jealousy of her critics in the Congress became all the greater when her newly-formed party began to outrun the mother outfit and attract more and more Congressmen to join it. From this standpoint, Trinamool today is the “real” Congress. But her anger against her former party does not seem to have subsided. Hence, the outburst at Rahul. (IPA Service)