Mamata Banerjee met Sharad Pawar and later questioned the existence of UPA (United Progressive Alliance), an alliance of 15 political parties along with the NCP. Although not a part of the UPA, her announcement came as a surprise for many. Some termed it as a part of the expansion spree, while others coined it as a devastating move. A few even linked it with the BJP’s larger mission of a “Congress mukth Bharat’. 

Prashant Kishore, the political strategist of TMC, seems to be the mastermind behind this stroke after having been not accommodated within the Congress with a plum post. Only time will reveal if it was an initiative of a bigger political game plan or an immature act. No doubt, Mamata has emerged as a strong Opposition leader after she took head on Modi-Shah duo in the West Bengal Assembly polls, but the fact remains that her party is yet to make a national-level presence. 

“There is no UPA now,” she told reporters after meeting NCP chief Sharad Pawar at his residence in Mumbai recently. “UPA is over. Now, the regional parties who are opposed to the BJP must come together and put up a joint fight,” she added. 

Earlier, she met Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and Maharashtra Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray. She could not meet Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray as he was hospitalised for a surgery. Taking a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, she said one can’t do politics in India by staying in a foreign country. “If a person wants to stay in a foreign country most of the time, how will it work in politics? If you are not on the ground, the BJP will defeat you,” she said. 

The Congress pooh-poohed Mamata’s political moves. “Thinking that anybody can defeat the BJP without the Congress is merely a dream,” said party General Secretary K C Venugopal. Maharashtra PCC chief Nana Patole said only the Congress can give a strong alternative to the BJP.  

Political experts feel that Mamata is not reliable; she kept switching from one party to the other. She came in the limelight after becoming the Youth Congress president. She served as the Youth Affairs Minister in the Congress Govt, and later as the Railway Minister with the NDA Govt.  Surprisingly, both Pawar and Mamata were a part of the united Congress earlier. Congress gives direct fight to BJP on almost 200 seats.  

The fact remains that in 2019, BJP won almost 90 % seats against Congress in direct contest, whereas it could win only 52 % against the regional parties. Congress is a weak opposition and, in some states, only regional parties can defeat BJP. Goa and MP were won by the Congress, but lost to BJP in the power game. Although, the need of the hour is to have a strong national-level opposition party, all the regional parties may not be convinced on TMC. 

Media professionals opine that Congress is at No 2 after BJP with 53 LS seats and cannot be ignored owing to its national presence. If Congress compromises with all regional parties, it will kill itself. It’s Mamata’s immaturity that she is making a dent within the UPA. Pawar is unstable; he said one thing with Mamata and his own spokesperson on the same evening said, “We can’t think of an opposition without Congress”. Secondly, if Congress withdraws in Maharasthra, the government will fall.

Earlier, she was in Delhi with the aim to expand the political network of TMC.  She is on a major expansion spree, by roping in MPs, MLAs, or for that reason any dissident political leader of the other party. TMC is on the lookout for leaders, who can make a dent in the opposition arena, be it the Congress, the BJP or any regional parties. Congress is upset with the move, and termed it as ‘poaching’. 

Asked about her skipping Sonia Gandhi’, Mamata said there was no meeting since "they are busy with Punjab polls". Later, she added, "Why should we meet Sonia every time? It is not constitutionally mandated". Mamata was known to share a good equation with Sonia Gandhi, but it has not extended to the next generation. The antipathy of Congress leaders from Bengal towards Mamata has driven a further wedge between the two parties.

Mamata has invited the Prime Minister to inaugurate the Global Business Meet in Bengal to be held next year. “Our political and ideological differences will remain, but that should not impact Centre-State ties as the country can develop only when States progress. Given the Covid situation, we are not sure how many countries will participate. But, if the Centre and the State work together, it will send a strong message and show the right direction to the industry,” she added. 

She also raised concerns over “widespread violence” in Tripura, blaming the BJP and the Tripura administration for leading attacks on its leaders and some journalists. 

In Delhi, she also met BJP leader Subramanian Swamy whose Rajya Sabha term is coming to an end. Following the meeting, Swamy denied speculations of him joining the Trinamool Congress. “I was already with Mamata. There is no need for me to join the party.”

Swamy has often in the recent past endorsed her, even calling her a “pucca Hindu and Durga devotee” when the BJP had targeted her for her alleged bias towards Muslims. He put out a tweet comparing her to Jaya Prakash Narayan, Morarji Desai, Rajiv Gandhi, Chandrashekhar and other leaders, saying she shares their “rare quality” of “meaning what they say and saying what they mean”.

A week back, the TMC inducted former Congress leaders Ashok Tanwar, Kirti Azad, and former JD(U) MP Pavan Varma as part of its plan to expand the party nationally. Tanwar was a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, Kirti Azad, who hails from Bihar had switched over from BJP to Congress and Varma is learnt to have been suspended by Nitish Kumar.

A number of leaders have joined TMC in the recent past, some of the prominent ones are; Luizinho Faleiro in Goa, late president Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit Mukherjee, Sushmita Dev, the former Congress MP from Silchar and daughter of late Congress stalwart Santosh Mohan Dev. The unprecedented coup in Meghalaya with 12 Congress MLAs joining TMC came as a surprise for many, but is considered as a deliberate move for the 2023 Assembly elections.

Dilip Ghosh, former BJP president of WB, said, it’s a pomp show and is not going to yield any results. It is good to expand, but not at the cost of your own allies. She is poaching upon Congress and NCP. Only retired Congressmen will join TMC.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, termed the meeting between Mamata and NCP supremo as a “pre-meditated conspiracy” to weaken the grand old party and alleged the TMC chief had become “BJP’s oxygen supplier.”

So far, only the Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was criticising the TMC chief as he has an old feud with her in West Bengal. Till now it has been the Congress’ strategy that there should be scope to improve relations in the name of Opposition unity and had even run a low political campaign in the recently conducted Assembly polls favouring the TMC. Also, a large number of Congressmen were in favour of rapprochement with Mamata for a long time.

Sources said that the responsibility of making political attacks on Mamata has been tasked to top leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge, Digvijaya Singh and Randeep Surjewala. They added that the special responsibility to Digvijaya Singh was given because he had been openly advocating coordination with leaders who left Congress like Jagan Mohan Reddy, Sharad Pawar and K Chandrasekhar Rao from the high command. Targeting the TMC chief, Youth Congress chief B.V. Srinivas wrote on Twitter, “Ask any question to Modi ji, you will be called a Deshdrohi. Ask any question to Mamta Di, you will be called a Maoist… What’s the difference between both?”

Is she building an Opposition party to take on BJP, or is her move by poaching on other party leaders destroying Congress as per the big plan of BJP. Manish Tiwari and other G23 Congress leaders are learnt to be in touch with TMC. When it comes to Rahul or Mamata to take on Modi, the opposition feels Mamata would be a better option. After the corona pandemic and farmers’ agitation, Rahul’s image has been built up as a true and committed leader. But we need to wait to conclude that Mamata is in a dilemma or her moves are deliberate to be projected as national leader.