Kolkata: Hours before the Congress declared him the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi dialled West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a gesture that may have marked the beginning of a new phase in their relationship.
While Mamata has remained an admirer of Rajiv Gandhi and has a good rapport with Sonia Gandhi, her relationship with Rahul has never been as warm. She even referred to him as a “boshonter kokil (spring cuckoo)”, a migratory bird sighted during monsoons, as recently as February this year.
Rahul replaced West Bengal Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, an arch rival of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), as the Leader of the Opposition earlier this month.
According to political observers and analysts, the conversation between Mamata and Rahul Tuesday might help amend their relationship.
West Bengal Congress leaders are of the opinion that the central leadership in Delhi is still unsure of how “comfortable and constructive” the TMC will be with Congress’s stand on most national issues given that the Congress and the Left are still locked in a battle for dominance with the TMC in the state.
Congress leader Rohan Mitra told ThePrint, “Now that Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has lost his leverage, the Delhi leaders will play a more important role in taking decisions which were earlier driven by him to keep the balance. Congress needs the TMC’s support politically.”
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What Rahul did to improve ties with Mamata
Congress’s decision to field its party MP K. Suresh for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s election triggered tension with its INDIA-bloc ally earlier this week, when the TMC called it an “unfortunate and unilateral decision”.
On 25 June, Rahul reached the Parliament building at the same time as TMC MPs but did not answer questions by the media on TMC’s support for Suresh.
Moments later, he was seen sitting beside TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in the first row in the Lok Sabha, engaged in deep discussion during the oath-taking ceremony of newly elected MPs.
Sources in the TMC told ThePrint that Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav intervened in the matter and suggested that Congress and the TMC clear their differences.
A TMC leader, who requested anonymity, told ThePrint that Rahul apologised to Abhishek for not keeping the TMC in the loop regarding strategy for the election of Lok Sabha Speaker.
On 25 June, after speaking to Abhishek, Rahul stepped out of Parliament, and called Mamata at around 5 pm to seek the TMC’s support for the Lok Sabha Speaker election that was scheduled for 26 June, sources in the TMC told ThePrint.
Rahul spoke to Mamata for almost 20 minutes over the phone, following which the TMC confirmed their participation in the meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence on the evening of 25 June.
The official announcement of the Leader of Opposition was made after the meeting at Kharge’s house. Later, the TMC confirmed their support for Suresh on the condition that they would not tolerate unilateral decision-making by the Congress in the future.
While this was not the first time the ties between the Congress and TMC turned sour, Rahul playing a key role in the Opposition has drawn focus back on his ties with Mamata.
Political analyst Jayanta Ghoshal told ThePrint that on Lok Sabha elections results day, Mamata told the media at her residence that she had sent a congratulatory message to Rahul but did not receive any response.
“Rahul had replied to Mamata, and the Congress knows that Mamata is now more important for them than Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. After 10 years, there is a Leader of the Opposition. Rahul took permission from TMC parliamentary leaders before his name was announced.
“The BJP is now weaker in terms of numbers and Congress needs the support of all members of the alliance, inside as well as outside Parliament. So, now there will be more coordination between Mamata and Rahul. She will drive the support for Congress on every issue, and Abhishek Banerjee will also play a key role. So, the ties with Rahul are now better,” said Ghoshal.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Mamata gave a cold shoulder to the Congress and decided to field candidates against its INDIA-bloc allies in West Bengal. With Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra crisscrossing districts in northern West Bengal earlier this year, Mamata had said publicly that he neither informed her nor invited her to join the foot march, suggesting her strained ties with Rahul even as he said that he shared an excellent rapport with Mamata.
Political analyst Udayan Bandopadhyay told ThePrint that Chowdhury made the TMC’s position within the INDIA-bloc formidable. This has given the party a crucial bargaining chip, he said.
“Congress should get Mamata’s full support in order to strengthen the alternative narrative to BJP. In Bengal, too, they should fight together on various issues concerning the impact of central policies. However, if the state Congress maintains its journey on the same track, nothing fruitful will come out of it. That might also put the central coalition in deep trouble,” Bandopadhyay said.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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