Cong pardon signal for ally

Calcutta, Aug. 1: The Congress has decided to take back the rebels it had suspended for contesting against Trinamul candidates in the Assembly elections, saying Mamata Banerjee has “shown the way” by drafting one of them into her own party. “If she (Mamata) takes back a Congress rebel into her party fold, then what’s the necessity of our being rigid about the others who had contested against her nominees?” Shakeel Ahmed, Congress general secretary in charge of Bengal affairs, said today. Fourteen Congress members had fought against Trinamul candidates as Independents after being denied official nomination. The Congress had suspended all of them ahead of the polls to signal to Mamata that it was not tolerating indiscipline. Of the 14, Hamidur Rahman emerged the lone winner, defeating Trinamul’s Sheikh Zalauddin from Chopra in North Dinajpur. The remaining 13 lost but the split in anti-Left votes ensured the defeat of half a dozen among their Trinamul opponents. Last Friday, Mamata allowed one of the rebels, Ram Pyare Ram, to defect to Trinamul along with his wife Hema. Both Ram and Hema are Congress councillors in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation from Garden Reach. Ram had contested the Assembly polls from Calcutta Port, a seat that was won by Trinamul. “Mamataji has shown us the way by pardoning Ram Pyareji,” Shakeel Ahmed said over the phone from Delhi. He said some of the rebels had met him a fortnight ago when he was in Calcutta to attend a party meeting. “But at that time we were reluctant (to lift the suspensions) on the assumption that Mamataji, being the leader of the Congress-Trinamul Congress alliance, might not take it well. However, in the changed political scenario, we are planning to take them back.” Ahmed clarified that the party would take back only those rebels who had contested against Trinamul candidates. Others who were suspended for fighting against the Congress’s own candidates will not be re-inducted. Trinamul leaders expressed unhappiness at the Congress’s move. A party general secretary warned that it could have “an adverse effect on the spirit of the alliance” which, he said, must be kept intact at any cost. “We will not accept it if the Congress unilaterally takes back its rebel candidates. They had ensured our party candidates’ defeat in half-a-dozen Assembly seats in Murshidabad and north Bengal,” he said.