A senior Congress leader in West Bengal on Tuesday claimed that the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) had approached its central leadership with an offer to leave the Nandigram Assembly constituency for it in the October 6 bypoll. The TMC, however, dismissed it, saying no such move was made.Former state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya claimed that the TMC contacted a senior Congress leader in New Delhi around 15 days ago, before the bypoll schedule was announced, and proposed that the Congress contest the Nandigram bypoll while the TMC contest the by-election in Rejinagar in Murshidabad district.Advertisement“The party high command sought time and subsequently consulted state leaders about the proposal,” Bhattacharya told PTI. “The state leadership felt that this was not the right time for an alliance. It can be considered when the time is appropriate, but not now. This is the correct decision.”Also Read | Why Mamata Banerjee has hit out at EC over ‘sweeping’, ‘unilateral’ transfers of officialsSources said former Mamata Banerjee got in touch with the Congress leadership in Delhi with the offer and spoke to All India Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal over the phone.However, sources in the Congress high command said the TMC’s local leadership contacted the Pradesh Congress Committee that was “dead against” any tie-up or electoral understanding with the Mamata-led party. The high command sought the views of almost all senior Congress leaders in Bengal and there was unanimity among them on keeping the TMC at an arm’s length, sources said. “At many places, TMC workers are joining the Congress. The TMC is in disarray. Why should we help the TMC stand up?” said a senior leader.AdvertisementAnother leader said when the TMC was in power it never showed an inclination to ally with the Congress. “Now they are desperate. The Congress should ideally now try to claim the political space occupied by the TMC … We should become the natural choice for all those who are opposed to the BJP, including minorities. A tie-up with the TMC will erode prospects of our independent growth after all these years.”Senior party leader Kunal Ghosh denied any such proposal was on the table, telling PTI, “No”, when asked about Bhattacharya’s comments.Also Read | BJP fields mother of murdered Suvendu aide for Nandigram bypollWhile the Mamata-led party has fielded Sanchita Pradhan (Dey), a new face, in Nandigram, the TMC rebels have fielded Mohammad Eteshamul Haque, and the Congress candidate is Milan Pradhan. The BJP on Tuesday named Hasirani Rath as its candidate. She is the mother of the CM’s late aide Chandranath, who was shot dead near Kolkata on May 6.Nandigram is intrinsically linked to the TMC’s rise to power as the anti-land acquisition movement there, starting in 2007, paved the way for the Left Front losing its rural base and the state four years later.While in 2021, Mamata Banerjee lost to current Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari by 1,956 votes, this time, the BJP’s win was more comfortable as Adhikari retained the constituency by defeating his former aide and TMC candidate Pabitra Kar by 9,665 votes. Adhikari, however, gave up the seat and retained Bhabanipur, from where he defeated Banerjee, thus making the bypoll necessary.Since then, the TMC has fractured, with both its legislative party and parliamentary party breaking away. The rebel MLAs have staked claim to the party name and symbol, while the rebel MPs have joined the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India and backed the BJP-led NDA.The Mamata-led party appears to be a shell of its former self and appears to have come to the conclusion that a hat-trick of losses was a more likely outcome if it contested Nandigram. In contrast, Rejinagar is Muslim-dominated and the party stands a better chance if it decides to concentrate its efforts there. Former TMC leader and Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) MLA Humayun Kabir had earlier said he would back the Opposition party if Mamata decided to contest the polls herself. The bypoll became necessary after Kabir vacated it and decided to retain Naoda, the constituency he won.you may likeAlso Read | TMC rebels to join BJP after Durga Puja? Remark sparks Bengal buzzFor many Congress old-timers, backing the Mamata-led party will be difficult given the role it played in its rapid decline in the state. Though the TMC and the Congress were allies when the Left was unseated in 2011 after 34 years in power, differences soon emerged and they went their own ways in 2013. A steady trickle of local leaders from the Congress to the TMC, however, continued, weakening the grand old party. Now, if the TMC fades in the face of a dominant BJP and the rebels gaining more power, the Congress will have a chance to repay the Mamata-led party in kind and fill any political vacuum that forms. Not allying with the TMC gives it the best chance to do exactly that.Back when she was at the peak of her powers, Mamata Banerjee did not take kindly to the grand old party allying with arch-rivals Left in the state — often, in her eyes, they appeared as big a threat as the BJP — but the contours of national politics pushed her into an uneasy alliance with these parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. However, it did not translate into an electoral understanding in the state, because of the bad blood between the TMC and the state Congress.Having lost power and most of her organisation, Mamata is perhaps more dependent on the Congress and the INDIA alliance than ever before. In her first remarks after the election defeat, Banerjee had declared that she was a “free bird” once more and would be on the streets again to take on the BJP. That will require a helping hand from the Congress, but that may not be forthcoming.