Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday re-entrusted external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee with the responsibility to decision to resurrect the party’s dwindling electoral fortunes in West Bengal. The decision was necessitated by the prolonged ill-health of union minister and state party unit chief PR Dasmunshi.
The decision may serve as a setback to New Delhi’s diplomatic efforts, as India is caught in the midst of a massive diplomatic offensive it launched against “recalcitrant states” against terror states (Pakistan), in wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes.
As Minister for external affairs, Mukherjee has been leading the Indian offensive from the front.
Speculative media reports suggest the decision may well turn out to be a political olive branch the Congress must offer the Left parties ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Dasmunshi had taken over as state chief after Mukherjee resigned from the post around a year ago, Dasmunshi – a known Left baiter - was keen on the Congress striking a pre-poll alliance with Trinamool Congress in the state.
Mukherjee, on the other hand, is known to have strong ties with several Left leaders and a controversial statement he made last week was a clear indication.
Mukherjee, last week, had commended the CPM state government for formulating and implementing strategies for industrial development in the state.
Without naming the Trinamool Congress, the minister had berated those responsible for blocking the process of industrialization in the state.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and the West Bengal state government have been locked in a bitter battle over the state’s acquisition of farm land to set up industrial projects.
The biter rivalry between the ideological forced the country’s top industrial conglomerate – Tatas – to shift the ambitious ‘Nano’ project out of the state and into Gujarat.
The Congress has been weighing alliance options in the state for the last few months.
Left parties had provided crucial ‘outside’ support to the UPA before pulling the plug on the Congress-led government over the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal
Having been subjected to repeated ignominies in weeks of estrangement leading up to the final divorce, Left parties had vowed never to support a Congress government.
Since its fallout with the Congress the Left Front, an amalgam of Left parties, has been instrumental for rallying support for an anti-Congress, anti-BJP third front, which seems to have caught the imagination of several regional parties across the country.
Mamata Banerjee, on her part, is a sworn rival of the Left parties and had been counting on an alliance with the Congress on the other side of the Lok Sabha elections.
Analysts say the Congress decision, to nominate Mukherjee as the Congress state unit chief is an ostensible attempt to calm ruffled feathers in the Left, but one that may push the Trinamool into isolation or, perhaps, even into the NDA fold.
The decision may serve as a setback to New Delhi’s diplomatic efforts, as India is caught in the midst of a massive diplomatic offensive it launched against “recalcitrant states” against terror states (Pakistan), in wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes.
As Minister for external affairs, Mukherjee has been leading the Indian offensive from the front.
Speculative media reports suggest the decision may well turn out to be a political olive branch the Congress must offer the Left parties ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Dasmunshi had taken over as state chief after Mukherjee resigned from the post around a year ago, Dasmunshi – a known Left baiter - was keen on the Congress striking a pre-poll alliance with Trinamool Congress in the state.
Mukherjee, on the other hand, is known to have strong ties with several Left leaders and a controversial statement he made last week was a clear indication.
Mukherjee, last week, had commended the CPM state government for formulating and implementing strategies for industrial development in the state.
Without naming the Trinamool Congress, the minister had berated those responsible for blocking the process of industrialization in the state.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and the West Bengal state government have been locked in a bitter battle over the state’s acquisition of farm land to set up industrial projects.
The biter rivalry between the ideological forced the country’s top industrial conglomerate – Tatas – to shift the ambitious ‘Nano’ project out of the state and into Gujarat.
The Congress has been weighing alliance options in the state for the last few months.
Left parties had provided crucial ‘outside’ support to the UPA before pulling the plug on the Congress-led government over the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal
Having been subjected to repeated ignominies in weeks of estrangement leading up to the final divorce, Left parties had vowed never to support a Congress government.
Since its fallout with the Congress the Left Front, an amalgam of Left parties, has been instrumental for rallying support for an anti-Congress, anti-BJP third front, which seems to have caught the imagination of several regional parties across the country.
Mamata Banerjee, on her part, is a sworn rival of the Left parties and had been counting on an alliance with the Congress on the other side of the Lok Sabha elections.
Analysts say the Congress decision, to nominate Mukherjee as the Congress state unit chief is an ostensible attempt to calm ruffled feathers in the Left, but one that may push the Trinamool into isolation or, perhaps, even into the NDA fold.
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