Shouldn’t elections be the time when politicians strengthen their constituencies rather than entering into troubled waters from where there can never be an escape route. Rather than worrying about the Congress party’s prospects in the upcoming Assembly elections of West Bengal, it would have been better had the leaders put their heads together to coordinate and collaborate their efforts in addressing the differences of views and opinions in the party’s best interest for their attempts made at systematically starving the party of electoral gains.
What makes them to turn their back against the party, in my opinion, is that party forums and committees are the best platforms to discuss and deliberate upon the contents of the matters that are limiting the party’s growth and expansion. Veterans including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and a host of others are wanting to take a leverage out of the situation for extracting whatever they could from the party high command in their capacity.
Popularly known as the Group of 23, they have taken the centre stage and are encouraging the party to initiate sweeping reforms to build the party organisationally and electorally. The proposal has irked and rattled the Gandhis for its contents and claims. The leaders have been asked to throw some light on the stand, which they hurriedly appropriated and adopted.
This is nearing towards an all-out battle, which is far from being closely illustrated in the utterances and occurrence of stances and statements of by this very group. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, West Bengal Congress Chief, has come up for scrutiny by Anand Sharma for cobbling an alliance with the Indian Secular Front headed by Furfura Sharif cleric Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui.
He was earlier willing to side with Owaisi, but later changed his mind on Left’s insistence. Sharma should be reminded that the Congress has itself been bargaining and demanding for 130 seats from the Left, but getting only 92. The accommodating ISL asked for clarity as it is the Left in Bengal and not the Congress that is calling the shots, knowing that it’s a do-or-die battle for them in a state that they governed for close to 30 years.
I am afraid that Anand Sharma’s selective reading makes him ineligible to look at the merits of the case for ignoring Congress’ poll understanding with Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala and AIUDF in Assam. Why does Tejashwi Yadav, whose RJD is their natural ally in Bihar, offer to support Mamata Banerjee and not their alliance with the Left?
I am made to understand that these dissenters, instead of distancing themselves from day-to-day affairs of the party, should take an extra mile in elaborating their strategy for the better of their party instead of diluting doubts for their unguarded contempt of the rules of the processes and procedures.