Among the many treasured sarees Sonia Gandhi has as gifts is the one from Mamata Banerjee. It’s a dhanakali, which she gifted to Gandhi, with whom till late, she shared a deep bond. The saree is gathering dust just as the relations between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Congress.
The close ties between Gandhi and Banerjee go back to the times when the West Bengal CM was in the Congress and till date acknowledges the role played by Rajiv Gandhi in her political life. It was Rajiv Gandhi who made Banerjee the Lok Sabha candidate from Jadavpur in 1984. In 1991, when she got hurt allegedly by Left workers, it was Rajiv Gandhi again who had sponsored her treatment.
"We are not two faced": Congress takes a dig at the Trinamool Congress "They need to come out of the delusion that Congress is the fulcrum of opposition unity," says TM Spokesperson Manojit Mandal
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She has never forgotten this and despite the son leaning to the Left and Banerjee publicly doubting Rahul Gandhi’s ability to lead an opposition front, Banerjee has maintained a good equation with Sonia Gandhi and a section of the Congress.
But now the strain has begun to show.
THE YECHURY FACTOR
There are two reasons for this. One, Rahul Gandhi’s obvious Left leaning. He is quite open about the fact that he considers Sitaram Yechury his mentor. And anyone who loves the Left earns the hatred of the TMC and Banerjee. In the last Bengal state polls, Banerjee was very angry when the Congress decided to enter into an alliance with the Left to fight her. She blamed the Congress for helping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) make inroads in her state.
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AFFINITY TO CHOUDHARY
Her second reason is Adhir Ranjan Choudhary. Choudhary is a known Mamata-baiter. It was he who had first advised Rahul Gandhi to enter into an alliance with the Left for the Bengal polls. He is an MP from Murshidabad and his win can only come at the cost of the TMC. Hence his animosity towards Banerjee.
He has from Day One maintained that she was soft on the BJP and cannot be trusted. It was he who agreed with Rahul Gandhi when during the Meghalaya polls, Rahul accused the TMC of scam and making money to help the BJP win.
The second part of the budget session has been marked by the absence of the TMC from Opposition meetings. In fact, even as the Opposition was meeting, the TMC, over two days, was protesting outside on another issue.
In fact, Kalyan Banerjee openly accused the Congress of being hand-in-glove with the BJP and said as long as Choudhary is the state chief, the TMC cannot come with the Congress.
This could cost opposition unity for 2024, as Banerjee was one of the main architects of this in 2019.
In politics, all options are open. But as they say, when friends become foes, the bitterness lasts longer.
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