NEW DELHI, March 3: The Congress has begun moves to woo rebel party leader Mamata Banerjee in its efforts to beat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the numbers game and cobble together a credible alliance with the United Front.Party president Sitaram Kesri maintained a diplomatic stand on Mamata referring only to his liking of her as a daughter while CWC member Sharad Pawar contacted Mamata to convince her not to ally with the BJP formally. Mamata's Trinamul Congress is expected to end up with around eight seats which could be crucial in forming the next government.
So far Mamata has kept distance from the BJP talking only in terms of an electoral adjustment with the BJP in West Bengal and not an alliance. A delayed sop, in the form of the PCC presidency, is also being dangled by the Congress high command. Former PCC chief Somen Mitra, Mamata's arch rival, had quit yesterday owning moral responsibility for the party's dismal show in the elections.
Since last August, Mamata has been demanding that Mitra besacked and that she replace him. When Kesri backed Mitra instead, Mamata went her own way and formed the Trinamul Congress despite Sonia Gandhi's active intervention to stop the rebellion. Mamata still voices respect for Sonia, another factor which the Congress is hoping will work.
But with Mitra out of the way, the Congress is hoping to placate Mamata with the fresh offer. With every seat counting at the moment, Mamata's seven or eight could add to the Congress tally and reduce from the BJP. In effect, it would translate to 14 or 16 seats and this could swing the balance either way. Pawar is playing a key role in the party's efforts and is aiming to use his good equations with Mamata.
In addition, the party is planning to work on Jayalalitha whose terrific show in the elections has beefed up the BJP's claims. Though this is still a long way off, the AIADMK is being looked at as a possible ally if the right deal can be worked out with Jayalalitha. However, a section of the Congress, including Pawar, feelsthat should their efforts not work, BJP must be allowed to form a government.
With this opinion growing in the Congress, Kesri hastened his efforts to cobble a fresh line-up with the UF and prevent the BJP from getting to power. By the evening, Kesri summoned an informal CWC meeting at his house to thrash out a quick strategy but the numbers were still not with him.
Kesri is strongly in favour of staking claim to form a government with the UF but a section of the party leaders are differing. Pawar, who has delivered a large contingent of party MPs from Maharashtra, has told colleagues that if the Cong-UF numbers don"t add up, the BJP should be allowed to go ahead with its efforts.
This is a feeling which apparently a section of the Left parties are also propagating and since the Left will be a crucial element in any Cong-UF tie-up, Kesri stepped up his efforts to counter this.
"The chances of us staking claim are increasing," Kesri said today. Informal parleys between the UF and the Congress continuedtoday and the Kesri group in the party is buoyant, at least in public.
Some sort of shape is being given to the Cong-UF patch-up with a section of the Congress, led by Kesri, willing to accomodate a UF leader as deputy prime minister under a Congress premier should it come to that.
Also, Kesri is keen to present, what he calls, "a common agenda" to President KR Narayanan as proof of the Cong-UF commitment to provide a stable government and good governance.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
