Hoping that the alliance between the two parties would continue till the 2011 assembly elections in the state, Mukherjee described Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee as a 'popular leader'.
In a clear message to alliance partner Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Congress president Pranab Mukherjee said today the basics of coalition politics is to give a partner its due and the 'golden opportunity' of removing the ruling Left Front should not be frittered away.
"But in the name of coalition if it becomes a one-party affair, controversy and conflict are inevitable. We don't want this golden opportunity (of removing the LF) after 34 years squandered away," Mukherjee told the 'chintan baithak' of the state Congress here in Nadia district.
"The principle of coalition politics is to give an alliance partner its due respect and power," he said. Noting that the Lok Sabha election results proved that Left rule in the state was heading for an end, he said "no rash decision or act should destroy this long-cherished aspiration of ending the left regime. If this happens it would be a historic blunder," he said.
Hoping that the alliance between the two parties would continue till the 2011 assembly elections in the state, he described Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee as a 'popular leader'.
Admitting that after the party's split in 1998, Congress in the state weakened, Mukherjee said this, however, had not diminished its importance.Mukherjee said, "Congress may not get majority in the assembly now on its own, but at the same time, no Opposition party can come to power in the state without Congress. This has been proved in the last Lok Sabha elections." He said in electoral arithmetic, election results are the final determining factor. "We all have to understand, united we stand and divided we fall.
"Our expectation from the alliance partner will be that besides giving leadership to the alliance it should give us our due respect and right," he said. Noting that Congress would adopt a two-pronged
strategy in the state in the coming days, he said the party would try to achieve overall success in the next assembly election while cooperating with the coalition partner. The party would also continue effort to strengthen its organisation in areas where it was weak, he said.
Mukherjee rubbished as 'absurd' allegations by those who had left the party and a section of media, that Congress had become the 'B' team of CPI-M. He pointed out that neither before 2004 nor after, had
the Congress formed the government at the Centre with Left support.
"This is historical fact. Had such allegations been true, Congress would not have signed the civil nuclear deal with the US in the face of Left pressure and risked the collapse of the government," he said.
The veteran leader said during its 125-year history, Congress did not have to become a satellite of any regional party. "Only at times, it becomes necessary to change tactics due to compulsion of national politics."
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