by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
The Congress has 40 MLAs in a House of 294 and had secured second position in 25-odd constituencies in 2011 Assembly polls. Rahul Gandhi is so keen to create Mahagathbandhan against the BJP that he is even willing to concede more seats to the TMC. Mamata Banerjee was taken by complete surprise when Rahul Gandhi made this upfront offer. She is reported to have told Gandhi that she would revert to him on the issue after discussing it within the party forum.
Since Mamata Banerjee is expected to visit Delhi on December 7 to attend the marriage of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's daughter, she may meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi as well. Though the purpose of her visit is to seek central funds for various projects, she cannot have any truck with the BJP in West Bengal.
Makes
an offer to TMC
Harish
Gupta
New Delhi, Nov. 29:
New Delhi, Nov. 29:
Desirous
to create Bihar-type Mahagathbandhan against the BJP in West Bengal, Congress
vice president Rahul Gandhi established a direct contact with TMC chief and
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.While
the first round of informal talks took place at the Patna Airport when Rahul
Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee were waiting to board their respective flights to
return to Delhi and Kolkata respectively in their special aircraft.
Highly
placed sources say that Rahul Gandhi took the initiative to walk up to Mamata
Banerjee and the one-to-one meeting continued for more than 20 minutes.What
transpired between the two was immediately known then. Since both of them had
gone to Patna to attend Nitish Kumar's swearing-in-ceremony and had bumped into
each other at the podium as well, not much significance was attached to it
then.It
has not surfaced that Rahul Gandhi made an upfront offer to Mamata Banerjee
that Congress is willing to settle for anywhere between 55-65 Assembly seats in
West Bengal going to polls in May 2016.
The Congress has 40 MLAs in a House of 294 and had secured second position in 25-odd constituencies in 2011 Assembly polls. Rahul Gandhi is so keen to create Mahagathbandhan against the BJP that he is even willing to concede more seats to the TMC. Mamata Banerjee was taken by complete surprise when Rahul Gandhi made this upfront offer. She is reported to have told Gandhi that she would revert to him on the issue after discussing it within the party forum.
Since Mamata Banerjee is expected to visit Delhi on December 7 to attend the marriage of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's daughter, she may meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi as well. Though the purpose of her visit is to seek central funds for various projects, she cannot have any truck with the BJP in West Bengal.
The Modi government requires the support of her 33 MPs in
Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha. Though Rahul Gandhi has a good personal rapport with CPM leader Sitaram
Yechury, the Congress has not enter into any electoral understanding with the
CPM. The two are contesting against each other in Kerala in May 2016 Assembly
polls. Therefore, there can be no electoral understanding in West Bengal. Rahul Gandhi's unilateral offer to Mamata Banerjee is a tactical move so that
she doesn't go with the BJP in Parliament or outside. The Congress' vote bank
is dwindling by the day and an electoral understanding may help in containing
the slide.
