TRANSFORMATION OF OPPOSITION POLITICS IN WEST-BENGAL - CONGRESS(I), TRINAMUL AND 1998 LOK-SABHA ELECTIONS

The results of the 12th Lok Sabha elections suggest a dramatic change has occurred in the equation of oppositional politics in West Bengal. The success of Mamata Banerjee's breakaway Trinamul Congress, together with a dramatic increase in support for the BJP, has relegated the Co ngress(1) to the periphery of electoral politics in that state. The re sults can be seen as confirmation of the Congress(1) rank and file's d eclining faith in the leadership of the party in West Bengal and a rej ection of its accommodating stance towards the rule Left Front. Althou gh it would appear premature at this stage to suggest that the Trinamu l Congress constitutes a realisation of the historical potential for t he emergence in West Bengal of a specifically regionally-oriented Cong ress freed from the constraints of the party's central leadership, the split in the state Congress should nevertheless be viewed as symptoma tic of a wider malaise within the party's organisational structure and should send a clear message to the party hierarchy in New Delhi that any rejuvanation of that structure needs to have its genesis at the st ate level and below.