Mamata Banerjee launches new unit within Congress

Dissident Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on Saturday launched a parallel party in West Bengal, the Trinamul Congress (Grassroot Congress), and declared an all-out war against the parent party.

The firebrand leader, however, made it clear that she would not quit the Congress.

Addressing a huge rally in Calcutta, close to the venue of the plenary session of the Congress party, she announced that a parallel state committee, to be headed by senior party legislator Pankaj Banerjee, and the district committees would be announced on August 13.

Former Union minister Ajit Panja, a candidate for Saturday's Congress Working Committee election, was present at the rally.

Banerjee said she would continue to fight the Congress as well as the Communist Party of India-Marxist uncompromisingly.

In pure political terms, the rally had little effect on the Congress session, but it proved her worth as a crowd-puller. However, much of the rally's glitter was shorn off by Sonia Gandhi's presence at the AICC session.

Party chief Sitaram Kesri, she said, kept calling her his daughter, but did little else. "What will he do for me, give me a lollipop?" she asked.

Banerjee also called for a Bangla Bachao Front (Save Bengal Front). Alliances with like-minded parties, including the smaller constituents of the ruling Left Front, would be formed in the near future to fight the 20-year "misrule" in the state, she said.

Significantly, no Congress leader except Ghulam Nabi Azad was willing to talk about Banerjee's rally. Azad said while the party leadership had previously ignored her statements, the rally was a serious matter and action would be taken against her.

Tara Shankar Sahay, UNI