Alliance with dignity!

Alliance with dignity is a difficult proposition
Perhaps Mamata Banerjee is laughing up her sleeves when Manas Bhuinya in utter exuberance compared Rahul Gandhi with Shri Krishna probably meaning saviour of Congress and claims no-alliance with Trinomool in assembly polls unless they pay proper respect to his party. In earlier elections Congress had to completely surrender to Trinomool and played to their tune. In many instances of seat sharing congress’s justified demand was ruthlessly trampled down by Trinomool Supremo.But the party tolerated the humiliation apparently with good grace perhaps to see CPM routed in polls. Yes, CPM faced electoral debacle, but at state level congress was not in any way benefited, nor did it get proper respect from Trinomool after Lok Sabha poll.Hoewever, at Central level congress was complacent with Left’s strength being reduced significantly, though it does not feel very comfortable with Trinomool as its major ally in parliament particularly for mercurial temperament and unpredictable nature of its supremo.More often than not she put UPA on the spot for her unbridled utterances and actions. In civic polls Congress couldn’t forge alliance with Trinomool and it did not make the latter loser in a significant way. On the contrary in absence of alliance Trinomool could assess its strength much to its satisfaction. One might argue in civic polls only 17% electorate exercised their franchise, so it couldn’t reflect the verdict of the whole electorate. But nevertheless the poll results more or less reflected general popular swing in favour of Trinomool Congress.So whatever Manas Bhuinya says or how many times Rahul Gandhi visits Bengal, in Assembly elections which are only a few months away Mamata Banerjee would say the last word in seat sharing .If Congress sticks to its so-called concept of ‘honour’ and ‘dignity’ there’ll be no electoral alliance in assembly polls, which perhaps Sonia Gandhi wouldn’t afford to bear with and Congress would go back to square one as in Lok Sabha polls.