As the race for Lok Sabha picks pace in the state, Trinamool Congress on Thursday got a shot in the arm when party chief Mamata Banerjee lapped up expelled CPM MP from Katwa Abu Ayesh Mondal, whom she admittedly did not know well till the other day.

Mandal, who was expelled a day earlier by the CPM for “anti-party” activities, was formally inducted into the Trinamool as its state vice-president.

Appearing at the side of Banerjee at her party office, Mondal said the CPM helmsmen are now living “lavish lives” in the name of Marxism.

“Since the 2006 Assembly elections, I have been opposing the way the CPM has been conducting itself. Since then, all decisions in my constituency have been taken without consulting me. Those holding power in the CPM are anti-poor and anti-people. I came to know I am not being given a ticket through media reports. Also, it is a party norm that those expelled would be intimated. No one informed me about my expulsion,” Mondal said.

A three-term MLA from Ausgram in Burdwan district, Mondol was elected to the Lok Sabha from Katwa in a by-poll in 2006.

Accusing the CPM of deviating from its path and ill-treating its comrades, Mondal said he always maintained a good rapport with leaders of various parties, but never went beyond that.

A beaming Banerjee, meanwhile, said she has had little interaction with Mondal in the past, but came to know of his expulsion on TV and approached him. “I know he is a CPM MP. I have seen him in Parliament. When we approached him after his expulsion, he agreed to join us. He has not asked for a ticket,” Banerjee said.

Slamming the CPM, Banerjee said “real” Leftists had no place left in that party. “He is humiliated. He wants to fight. The CPM has bad-mouthed him. We are grateful he has joined us,” she said.

Reacting to reports that the fledgling Congress-Trinamool poll alliance was on a shaky ground with Congress leaders objecting to seven seats “allotted” to their party by the Trinamool in south Bengal, Banerjee said the alliance had been finalised only after discussions with senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee.

“He asked us for some time to inform the Congress high command in Delhi. Nothing has been intimated to us about any problem regarding seats in south Bengal. We will wait to be informed officially,” she said, adding “everything” had been cleared during the meeting with Mukherjee. “As far as we understand, the agreement has been clinched,” Banerjee said.

Potential turncoats itching?
Joachim Baxla, a four-term RSP MP from Alipurduar in Jalpaiguri district who has been denied a ticket this time, admitted he had been approached by the Congress and the Trinamool. "I have not decided yet," Baxla said, "as I have a long association with the party."