Why CAA’s just a dash of spice in Bengal’s jhaal muri
[ad_1]
Mamata’s personality carries her party, her bitter rivalry with state Congress sank INDIA, while CAA alone can’t help BJP. Here’s what’s playing out in Bengal, with 42 seats, LS’s third largest chunk
What explains Mamata’s ditching INDIA on seat-sharing?
Congress was desperate for some arrangement with Trinamool as it wanted to retain the two seats it won in 2019: Baharampur and Malda (South). In both, margin of victory was narrower than sum of votes polled by Trinamool and BJP candidates.
Malda (South)’s win margin of 8k+ votes was especially low. Trinamool’s help in these two seats would have almost sealed a Congress victory this time. But politics isn’t only about ideology, policy. It’s also about personalities. And it’s here that things went wrong. Differences between CM and state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury go back a long way. Even when both were in Congress, they belonged to different factions. Chowdhury’s been among Trinamool’s harshest critics. His shrill opposition has often been in sharp contrast to central Congress leadership’s ‘soft’ approach to Mamata. So, for Trinamool, it’s payback time. If it wants any Congress politician cut to size in Bengal, it is Chowdhury.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
END OF ARTICLE
[ad_2]
Source link