Congress now main opposition

Kolkata: The Trinamool 'tsunami' has ensured a return of Mamata Banerjee to power but in the process, the mantle of the opposition has changed hands. Five years after the Left Front lost its position of prominence to Trinamool, Congress on Thursday snatched the opposition status from the beleaguered party.
This election, Congress has not only managed to add two more seats to its kitty - it now has 45 seats, it has also increased its vote share from 9.6% to 12%."We will be the main Opposition in the Bengal assembly after 15 years," said an upbeat Manas Bhunia, one of the last Congress leaders to join the Left-Congress bandwagon, after his thumping win from Sabang. But the biggest challenge for PCC president Adhir Chowdhury will be to retain the Opposition seat count, taking extra care to check switchover of MLAs to the ruling party.
"The two parties are ideologically similar. If offered olive branches, the MLAs will be too keen to join Trinamool, like they did after the parted ways in 2012," psephologist and RBU professor Biswanath Chakraborty said.
The Congress, the gainer out of the jote, had been on a downslide ever since its chief minister SS Ray lost in 1977. But things turned from bad to worse after 2011 with the Trinamool repeatedly poaching its workers and Congress legislators cross-voting for the Trinamool in Rajya Sabha polls.
"We are waiting for the state chief's signal to formulate a roadmap for anti-TMC agitation programmes throughout the state for next year's panchayat polls. The road ahead is full of hardship," a party leader said.
Even as the jote failed unexpectedly, Chowdhury sent messages to the party leadership to strengthen base in the state. "Knowing the alliance could inject a new dynamism in the country's political system, he wants to keep the jote alive and nurture it," an aide revealed. The high command in Delhi would wish to continue with the jote in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.