What is this bond called – enemy’s enemy is friend or strategic tie-up for survival?
By Prasanna Mohanty
Bhubaneswar, March 25: The meeting between Trinamool Congress president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with her Odisha counterpart of Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik on Thursday has generated a lot of curiosity in political circles with many wondering if these two leaders are desperately looking for raising a strong phalanx against the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Mamata and Naveen are top regional leaders and they are well-entrenched in their respective states. However, for a decade now, both the leaders are feeling the heat of the BJP’s plan to expand its footprints in their states.
In the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections, Mamata saw the BJP emerging as a potential force, pushing the Left parties to the brink. So it happened in the 2019 Odisha assembly polls which saw the BJP emerging as the BJD’s key rival, relegating the Congress to the third spot.
The BJP has been working on a mission to strengthen its foothold in West Bengal and Odisha. However, the strong resistance provided by Mamata Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik has made it difficult for the party to conquer the state with ease. Nevertheless, the party sees some hope of winning these two states going by the scale of corruption, nepotism and lawlessness prevailing here.
In the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections, the BJP gave a tough fight to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and won 77 seats, 71 more than its 2016 tally. The saffron party saw its vote percentage increase to 37.97 per cent from 27.81 percentages in 2016.
Similarly in 2019 Odisha assembly polls, the BJP increased its seat tally to 23 from 10 in 2014. It also registered an encouraging vote percentage of 32.49, 14.49 per cent more than its 2014 figure.
On Thursday, Mamata bared it all about her political mission that was very conveniently packed into his three-day trip to Odisha. She along with Naveen nearly attempted declare in no uncertain terms about her plan to ward off the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Purvodaya expansion plan in eastern India.
“Today, we had a very good meeting. We discussed the safety of democratic rights and our nation,” Mamata said after her meeting with the BJD president and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik.
Asked about if she was leading an initiative to form a possible third front ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Mamata said the polls are months away and there is no point in discussing that aspect now.
Insisted by journalists to clarify as to what she meant by “safety democratic rights and nations,” Mamata who was jointly addressing the media along with the Odisha CM after the meeting, tried to desist herself from spilling more beans in the presence of Naveen.
She restricted herself to saying, “I may not discuss my opinion or details of the discussion in front of you. There is something he may not support and there is something may not support. If you ask alone to me political questions, I will open the golden box (sic).”
In fact, the ruling BJD, though is the key rival of the BJP in the state, has very often supported the ruling BJP at Centre in passing some crucial legislations ostensibly to buy peace with the saffron party.
While Mamata bared it all about what transpired in the meeting, the astute Odisha CM Mr Patnaik restricted himself to saying,” We had a very excellent discussion. We are neighbouring states and we have a very good relationship. There were no in-depth and serious political matters today. We just the federal structure in India should remain permanent and strong.”
“When there is a cyclone in Odisha, we get affected. When there is power cut in Odisha, we also face darkness,” said Mamata, hinting at the identical offensive faced by both the BJD and TMC from the BJP.
