RJD, NCP set to ally with TMC for Bengal polls; SP likely to join

KOLKATA: Leaders of Bihar’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Maharashtra’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have held talks with West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and agreed to form an alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Dal (BJP) in the assembly polls due in the state in March-april, according to leaders aware of the developments.

RJD national general secretary Shyam Rajak said he met Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC youth wing president Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday. TMC Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy said he too held talks with NCP founder and former Maharashtra chief minister Sharad Pawar in Delhi on Monday. Pawar also talked to CM Banerjee over phone.

“I met Abhishek Banerjee and we agreed on one agenda. The BJP has to be defeated in Bengal. That is our only goal,” Rajak said after returning to Patna on Tuesday

evening. “We did not discuss the issue of seat sharing in the first round of talks. That can take place later. We will be frequenting Bengal from now on,” he added. Roy said he was happy with regional parties offering support to the TMC. “Pawar and I had a round of talks on Monday. He is in touch with Mamata Banerjee. The NCP’S Darjeeling district unit will hold a meeting on Wednesday,” he said.

The Samajwadi Party (SP), an opposition force in Uttar Pradesh, too is eager to form an alliance with the TMC, Roy said. “Akhilesh Yadav may visit Kolkata. This is a hopeful sign. A consensus is emerging that the BJP needs to be stopped,” he added.

With the CM trying to consolidate anti-bjp votes, top parties from the Hindi heartland have geared up to enter the race, triggering the possibility of a split in votes cast by Hindi-speaking and tribal people. The advantage of such a division, no matter how small, may help the TMC in some regions, political experts and TMC leaders feel.

Kolkata-based political science professor Udayan Bandopadhyay said the TMC will benefit from the voices of these regional parties. “The NCP and RJD are non-entities in Bengal. This is a bi-polar contest between TMC and BJP. Banerjee’s efforts are exposing the dichotomy in the TMC. On one hand, ruling party leaders call the BJP a party of Hindi-speaking outsiders while on the other they seek help from regional forces,” said Bengal BJP’S chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya.

BJP to stop ‘mass-scale’ joining of TMC turncoats

The BJP has decided to stop “mass-scale joining” of leaders from TMC after party workers expressed disgruntlement. “For now, we are shutting our doors to mass-scale joining of leaders, which have been going on over the past few months,” BJP’S national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said, adding “We don’t want the BJP to turn into the B-team of the TMC by inducting leaders who don’t have a clean image.”