CALCUTTA: Anti S.S. Ray feeling is running high within the West Bengal Congress. A large number of party men are now of the firm view that only the prospect of getting a Lok Sabha ticket and making it to the Union Cabinet is behind Ambassador Ray’s decision to give up his plum assignment in the US for the rough and tumble of politics.

A section of south Calcutta based councilors (loyal to WBPCC chief Somen Mitra) recently went to the extent of threatening an outright rebellion in case the high command foisted Mr. Ray on the State unit. This was after rumors that State YC President Mamata Banerjee had offered to step down from her Calcutta (South) parliamentary seat in his favor began making the rounds. It was argued that allowing an “unpopular” figure like Mr. Ray to reenter the political arena at this juncture would be disastrous since the Congress had a fighting chance of unseating the Left Front in this year’s Assembly poll.

WBPCC sources felt that even though Mr. Ray was angling for an LS nomination, his eyes were fixed on the chief minister ship of West Bengal that is why the prospect of his candidature seemed so worrying. Already he had begun making defamatory statements concerning Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee whom he saw as a potential rival for the CM’s post.

‘The anti-Ray sentiment within the WBPCC is so strong that party president Somen Mitra had recently used extremely intemperate language to cut him down to size, Mr, Mitra had likened Mr. Ray to a “greedy jackal” ho stuck his neck out whenever he sensed something was there to be gobbled, “His presence always has. A saturnine effect on the fortunes of the ‘State Congress.

Mr, Mitra said Mr. Ray was atypical example of a self-seeking politician who was surrounded by a comupt ‘band of admirers. “If such a man again tries to throw his weight in State politics, we will oppose him with all ‘our might.”

Most analysis, however, felt that Mr. Mitra’s animosity was really of no consequence since Mr. Ray had the car of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, Without the PM’ s assurance that his political interests would be looked after, Mr. Ray would never have opted to come back. So when it comes to the enrich Mr. Mitra would have to either fall in line with the High Command’s wishes or risk political oblivion. Resides. Mr. Ray continues. To have the support of Ms. Banerjee and her supporters.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 21, 1996