Cong changes stand on Mamata in Bengal

KOLKATA: The Congress high command has tweaked its earlier stand of avoiding criticising West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on the arrest of two high- profile party MPs in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam.

The Congress has now decided that while it will continue floor coordination with Trinamool Congress and other opposition parties within Parliament on demonetisation, it will give Congress leaders in West Bengal a free hand in coordinating with Left Front in organising a united opposition in the state against TMC’s alleged involvement in the chit fund scam.

They will also target the state government over the deteriorating law and order situation.

The man responsible for convincing the Congress high command to change its stand is Abdul Mannan, the leader of the Congress legislative party in West Bengal. Incidentally, he had a prominent role in striking an understanding with the Left Front before the 2016 West Bengal assembly elections. Mannan argued that Congress — now the principal opposition party in West Bengal, with 40 MLAs in a house of 294 (two MLAs joined TMC after 2016 assembly polls) — will lose its relevance unless it aggressively organises protest meetings against the state government.

“Every day, Congress workers are attacked and killed in Bengal. Trinamool is continuously poaching workers of Congress by using muscle or money power... In such a situation, Congress cannot remain silent on such matters, and our central leadership is well aware of the situation,” Mannan told HT.