Despite Mamata’s lacerating taunts for the Hindi heartland defeat, Congress’s Gandhi family and its Bengal leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury backed Mahua. So did arch-rivals, CPM. Both Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee are also with her, ensuring the faction-ridden Trinamool closed ranks. Expect a repeat of the outsider-targeting-Bengal’s-daughter card that Mamata played so effectively against BJP in 2021