NEW DELHI: The vice president of the Congress party during a meeting with party men from West Bengal today conceded that it was a mistake to work with the Trinamool Congress. In his words, he stated that it was not good for them to have contested just a few seats in the 2011 assembly elections, in the same political camp with Mamata Benerjee’s Trinamool Congress.
During the meeting that involved delegates from West Bengal, Mr. Gandhi posed a question. In his quiz, he wanted to know whether it would have been possible for the Trinamool to win the 2011 elections without the support of the Congress. All the people that were present in the meeting provided a resounding “no” as an answer.
Ompraksh Mishra, spokesperson for West Bengal Congress, said that the Congress vice president was in agreement with the notion that the Trinamool Congress became victorious because of the Congress. He further added that contesting only for a few seats was a bad decision. It is known that Trinamool Congress was led by Mamata Benerjee. Only 65 seats were contested for by the Congress.
The president of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, will make a keen consideration as to whether there can be an ally.
Adhir Ranjan told the newspersons that during their meeting with their vice president, Rahul Gandhi, they were keenly listened to. Everyone on the meeting had differing opinions and he was open to take them all in. After the meeting, he gave them an assurance that all their views would be taken into account. They plan to have another meeting once a threadbare discussion with Sonia has been done. It is during such a meeting that the congress party will make public its views.
He (Adhir Ranjan) confirmed that an alliance is yet to be established between CPI-M and the Congress.
Mr. Chowdhury is seen to be in the camp of the leaders that yearn for an alliance to be established with the Left Front. He is of the opinion that doing so is the only way to defeat the Trinamool in Bengal.
After the meeting, Chowdhury said that people gave out their views as to what should happen. Only a few were in support of the Congress going into the elections on its own.
He added that the meeting was an interactive one and was very democratic.
On the other hand, Omprakash Mishra, who is championing the plans to ally with Left Front, stated that he has hopes that a guideline shall be made on how seats will be shared with the Left Front.
He included that during the meeting, none of the participants was in agreement with the Congress party working with the Trinamool Congress. Manas Bhunia, former chief of the state Congress, supports the idea of the Congress going into the elections alone.
But they explained that contesting individually would reduce the number of seats that they can win.
The 2019 election issue was brought up. Rahul was informed that for them to have a bigger chance of winning the general election (2019), they have to thwart Trinamool Congress in the 2016 assembly elections.