Mamata and Congress could have been allies but for a mismatch in goals

Leveraging opportunity is natural enough in order to drive a bargain forward, though it may not be sufficient to cement an alliance that must hold not only just long enough to get a few more seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections but also in the eventuality of the most desired outcome being defeated by popular choice. 

In other words, in the highly polarised politics of West Bengal, the Congress ought to be a natural ally of the Trinamool Congress. The two parties ought to be joined at the hip for both clearly see an opportunity in the eroding dominance of Communist Party of India Marxist after 32 years of uninterrupted power. Neither party however can quite trust the other side long enough to seal the deal. 

The Congress is concerned that not only may Mamata Banerjee not stick to the alliance in the long run but may also raise demands, if the alliance wins, that it could not possibly meet. Whereas the Congress is working on the premise that it will be reinstated at the Centre at the head of a coalition, the Trinamool Congress as a local party with currently one seat in the Lok Sabha has no ambition larger than ousting the CPM from power in West Bengal and that too only in 2011 when the next state elections are due.  

The mismatch between the goals of the two potential partners is why an alliance that seems natural has not been ratified. Coalitions, alliances, understandings, partnerships need something more than a shared visceral hate, in West Bengal of the CPM. Partners need to share a goal beyond the immediate.  

For the Congress, unsure of who will finally be part of its pre-poll alliance and uncertain of whom it will need to support its bid to head a government at the Centre, sharing Banerjee's single-minded aim of weakening the CPM sufficiently to give the Trinamool Congress a chance in 2011 is not quite enough. The Congress has to give itself elbow room 

to offer a partnership to the CPM in the post-poll scenario.  

Sensing this possibility, Banerjee has turned characteristically hysterical, demanding that Pranab Mukherjee “stop it!” by which she means turn the tap off on sanctions and approvals for projects and disbursements that benefit West Bengal. By revealing her insecurities, Banerjee has made it very difficult indeed for the Congress to go forward with what ought to be a natural alliance; for one, the Congress cannot afford to appear as the stumbling block to West Bengal's growth and development. For another, the Congress cannot allow itself to be dictated terms on how it will operate in the post-poll situation in seeking support to strengthen its claims to forming a government. In other words, Banerjee is demanding the power to veto what the Congress does in the future.  

The demand may have worked if social forces and political parties were differently aligned in West Bengal and Banerjee could command the loyalty of captive vote banks to the point where she could transfer those votes to a political partner. Banerjee, alas, is not Mayawati, who can command Dalits to vote where she wills. She has no special constituency, not even peasants worried about being ousted through the state's land acquisition for industry. Nor is her version of secular, inclusive politics different from that of the Congress and the CPM-led Left Front, despite her recent flirtations with parties such as Jamiatul Ulema e Hind, the Jharkhand Disom Party openly identified by community affiliations. 

The Congress is therefore trapped between the wanton destructiveness of one natural ally, the Trinamool Congress, and the selectively impossible idealism of a potentially powerful and equally natural ally, the CPM-led Left Front.  

Whereas the Left Front has a long and repeatedly ratified tradition of social and political engineering to back its claims to lead, Banerjee has a negative single point agenda of demolishing CPM's credibility by wrecking West Bengal's future through transforming itself into a manufacturing and services hub. By choosing one, the Congress would foreclose the possibility of hooking up with the other. 

Since alliances are made for the specific purpose of acting as force multipliers, the naturalness of its alliance with the Trinamool Congress will have to fit in with the jigsaw of partnerships that Congress puts together in other places. Of the 42 seats up for grabs, one is currently with the Trinamool Congress, six with the Congress and the rest with the CPM-led Left Front. What is more natural and which is a better opportunity? Pandering to the unpredictable Banerjee or wooing single-minded Prakash Karat with at least 40 plus seats in the Lok Sabha?

The writer is a commentator on political affairs

Shikha Mukerjee/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication