TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee with Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Congress now hopes for a positive turn in its relations with Trinamool Congress after party president Mallikarjun Kharge managed to open a direct communication line with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Sources said Kharge has already spoken to the Trinamool chief, who earlier this week announced that her party will go alone in Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, as well as written to her regarding Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
In what is seen as a negation of its state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s diatribe against the ally, Kharge, in his letter on Friday, said that “miscreants” may create trouble for the yatra in Bengal while claiming that he was “not sure if the intention is to show the state administration in a bad light or to disrupt the yatra”.
Congress leaders also did not support Chowdhury’s remarks about the government creating roadblocks for the yatra with General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh referring to High Court orders and other issues for the delay in permission for public meetings in Siliguri rather than pointing fingers at the ally.
Ramesh told a press conference that their top leaders, Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi, have “immense respect” for Mamata, and they know that to defeat the BJP and communal ideology, Trinamool is an important cog in the wheel. He also said that Congress would like Mamata to come for Rahul's yatra in Bengal.
In a signal to the Trinamool, the party also got Adhir to apologise to their Rajya Sabha floor leader, Derek O'Brien, for calling him a “foreigner”.
Kharge also recalled Mamata’s “cordial relationship” with the Gandhi family in his letter, saying that he was sure that she would make all efforts to address security concerns during the yatra. “However, I thought it would be best if I personally write to you requesting the same,” he said.
Kharge himself said in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi that he has spoken to Mamata, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, and CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and told them that they have to stay united and “only then we can give a good fight, and I.N.D.I.A can be successful in fulfilling the intentions with which it was formed”.
Sources said Kharge’s telephonic conversation with Mamata was an “ice breaker”, and they expect a positive outcome from it. They said it is important to note that Kharge managed to speak to Mamata and not backroom negotiators doing the job, which is an indication of positive output.
“It took some time and hard work. But we are positive,” a senior leader said.