What makes the man who once fought Abhishek game for Trinamool switch?

The resignation of Pratik Ur Rehman, a face whom the CPIM had pitched in a mismatched battle against Trinamool Congress honcho Abhishek Banerjee in the 2024 parliamentary selections, could not be more ill-timed for the party ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. The most plausible explanation behind this is that the young turk has received feelers from the ruling party – but questions are also being asked as to what made him feel ‘cornered’ in the first place.

 For the first few days of Rehman sending a personal letter to Mohammed Selim, general secretary of the party’s state unit, and it being leaked in social media – the local high command had got into a damage control mode. While Selim stuck to the regimented party line that it’s an ‘internal matter’ and the issue would be taken up with due seriousness in the party, the disenchanted CPIM leader refused to elaborate it further.

 However, he has since poured his heart out to a number of popular regional TV channels – which is giving a peek into his next move on Thursday. Speaking to Zee 24 Hours, the 36-year-old replied to a direct question as to whether he would join Trinamool: ‘’As long as I have done CPIM or SFI, I have done it with full conviction and honesty. Right now, I am walking down a road and will know what awaits for me at the corner only when I reach there – whether it’s Trinamool, BJP, ISF, ultra left or ultra right.’’

It’s significant to note that Rehman, who could be asset to any rival political party with his hold over the districts – not to speak of a minority vote share – did not rule out the ruling Trinamool as one of his options. In an audio interview with Ei Samay, Pratik was even more candid about his respect for chief minister Mamata Banerjee as a leader. ‘’Well, it’s not easy to throw out a government which had ruled our state for 34 years. I have got my highest respect for Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee and Dilip Ghosh – with the later not pulling back any punches from her political standpoint. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing about Suvendu Adhikari.’’

 As the deadline for announcement of polling dates are nearing and the CPIM are clearly struggling to add muscle to their seat-sharing arrangement, Rehman’s resignation has certainly caught the leadership on the wrong foot. While even some of the middle level party workers that National Herald spoke to are tightlipped on the issue, it’s a poorly kept secret that a large section of the party was unhappy with Selim’s meeting with Humayun Kabir, a TMC MLA whom they recently suspended for the strong communal overtones in his speeches and for planning to rebuild the ‘Babri Mosque’ in Mushidabad in Bengal.

 The meeting fuelled speculation about an alliance between the CPIM and the Janata Unnayan Party (JUP), a new political outfit floated by Kabir, with an eye to chip away at Trinamool’s minority vote bank. While the party looked itself was divided on the issue, Satarup Ghosh – another media savvy spokesperson of CPIM came out in support of such an alliance that it’s not their sole responsibility to stick to morality, ideology and principles in politics.

While Ghosh argued that it’s time to do all it takes to remove Trinamool from power, Rehman recently posted on social media that one could not remain a member of the communist party without principles or ideology. A comment which brought out the fissures in the party, while recent history suggests that the CPIM’s hasty seat-sharing maneuovres did not yield them suitable returns over the past decade.

An alliance between CPIM and Congress, held as sworn enemies in Bengal’s often bloody political history, had yielded them 44 seats in the Lok Sabha in 2016. Five years back, the CPIM added the new-born Indian Secular Front (ISF) to make it a triangle – which resulted in a disaster with the once dominant party now drawing a blank and Congress and ISF winning a seat each.

It’s a tangle that’s yet to be solved – and that’s not good news for the party loyalists hoping for a turnaround!