It will not be possible for Congress to fulfill the condition Mamta Banerjee has put

After the massive victory in the Karnataka elections, leaders of several opposition parties including Akhilesh Yadav to Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav and Sharad Pawar came forward to congratulate the Congress. But West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, along with congratulating the Congress, also went a step further and announced that her party is ready to support the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2024. In return for this support, Congress has put such a condition which is absolutely impossible for a national party like Congress to accept.

Troubled by the increasing stature and mass base of the BJP in West Bengal, Mamta Banerjee, playing a big bet, said that in view of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, wherever the Congress is strong, she is ready to support the Congress, but the Congress should not be allowed in the West. One should not fight against them in Bengal. Mamta Banerjee argued that wherever (in the states) where a regional political party is strong, the BJP cannot contest there, therefore priority should be given to a strong regional party there. She said that she is supporting Congress in Karnataka but it (Congress) should not fight against me in Bengal.

Is it possible for Congress to accept this demand of Mamata Banerjee? Is the Congress ready to make such a big sacrifice in the name of ousting the BJP from power in the Lok Sabha elections that it should hand over the entire state to strong regional satraps? Congress, which is already fighting for survival in many states because of its own former leaders who are running governments in different states by forming their own regional parties after coming out of the Congress, will its remaining party also have to fight for these regional satraps? Ready to surrender?

It is also a matter to think that because of Mamta Banerjee, how much Congress has benefited in Karnataka? Or how much Mamta Banerjee can benefit Congress in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and if the answer is no, then how can Congress hand over Bengal to Mamta?

The biggest crisis before the Congress is that if it accepts Mamata Banerjee’s demand, then similar demands will start arising from other states as well. Akhilesh Yadav will say that Congress should not fight against him in Uttar Pradesh, Nitish-Tejashwi will say that Congress should not fight against him in Bihar, National Conference-PDP will make similar demand in Jammu and Kashmir, Aam Aadmi Party will say that to defeat BJP Congress did not contest elections in Delhi and Punjab and similar demands can come from states like Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, then what will Congress do?

In such a situation, it is clearly visible that Mamta Banerjee has imposed such a condition in lieu of giving support, which is not possible for the Congress to accept. This is the reason why as soon as Mamata Banerjee’s statement came to the fore, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary’s statement from the Congress side also came to the fore. Lok Sabha MP from West Bengal and leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, close to Gandhi family, denied Mamta Banerjee’s condition and said that before Karnataka elections Mamta Banerjee had ever said that vote for Congress to defeat BJP but Now the hold of Congress is increasing in Bengal also and they are beginning to feel that it is difficult for them to move forward in Bengal without Congress.

In fact, the condition Mamta Banerjee has openly put in front of the Congress, some other regional satraps also have the same desire, who keep reminding the Congress that how weak the Congress has become in their state. Is. All these regional satraps want that in the name of unity of opposition parties, Congress should consider them as elder brothers in their respective states and fight only on the number of seats they are ready to give. But the old and experienced Congress leaders know that if the Congress surrenders to these regional satraps, then it will be difficult for it to remain a national party. In such a situation, it is clearly visible that this campaign to form a common front of opposition parties in the name of opposing Modi will continue till the Lok Sabha elections and in the meantime, the tussle between Congress and regional parties regarding the number of seats and coordination will continue. .

Santosh Pathak

The author is a senior journalist and columnist.