The ruling Trinamool Congress, it seems, is finding it tough to keep its house in order at two of its most prestigious pockets in West Bengal that had catapulted Mamata Banerjee to power in 2011 — Nandigram and Singur.
Following clear rifts within the party over minister Subhendu Adhikari’s stated disillusionment expressed at a public meeting in Nandigram, East Midnapore, earlier this week and fervent speculations over his possible snapping of ties with the ruling camp for a while now, the party’s Haripal MLA Becharam Manna’s resignation drama left the party scurrying for damage control in Hooghly district.
Manna submitted his papers on Thursday over his differences with the MLA from the adjacent Singur seat, Rabindranath Bhattacherjee, who went public with his disappointment some time ago and even threatened to quit after Banerjee removed the party’s block president in Singur, Mahadeb Das, who is known to be close to Bhattacherjee. A similar change of guard at the Haripal block has, conversely, left Manna unimpressed.
The Trinamool leadership asked Manna to reinstate Das, a move that prompted Manna to put in his papers at the Bengal Assembly. Party’s general secretary Subrata Bakshi called Manna at the Trinamool Congress headquarters in Kolkata and, reportedly, “gave him a piece of his mind” to convince him to withdraw his resignation, which he eventually did.
Manna has reportedly also spoken to by Banerjee as well in the wake of the recent developments. On Friday morning, another district leader and MLA from Uttarpara, Prabir Ghoshal, met Manna at his residence to quell the tension and later told the media, “There was a misunderstanding between the two leaders, but I believe the issues have been sufficiently addressed. There are no problems anymore. Becharam Manna is the face of the Singur movement and the party recognises that.”
Although Manna has stayed away from the media and made no attempts to corroborate that statement till this report was filed, his followers held a protest demonstration in Singur on Friday afternoon against the party state leadership’s decision to reinstate Das. Observers on the ground say Manna still remains disgruntled.
Bhattacharjee, on the other hand, feels Manna’s resignation drama “could be an attempt to pressurise on the party into accepting his terms”.
BJP Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee used the opportunity to take a dig at the ruling camp. “The Trinamool Congress is now riddled with factional fights. TMC leaders in Hooghly are trying to move out knowing that the party has failed to deliver on its promises on Singur. Singur had lifted Mamata Banerjee to power and Singur will be her political graveyard,” she said.
Meanwhile, the dust over Adhikari looks far from having settled. Even as the Trinamool leadership continued to make attempts to reach out to the disgruntled leader and even threaten and warn him from some quarters, Adhikari continued to make politically loaded statements. “I will continue in my journey, no matter what. No one can stop me,” he said at a programme on Friday morning.
Sources within the party confirmed that Banerjee’s political advisor Prashant Kishor visited the Adhikari residence at Contai, East Midnapore late Thursday evening for talks. Adhikari was not available at him home and Kishor ended up chatting with the minister’s father and TMC MP Sisir Adhikari for nearly two hours. The senior Adhikari continues to maintain that “differences would soon be settled”.
The jury is still out on whether that visit has been able to break ice while there are indications that Kishor may have sounded a warning to Adhikari on possible action against him for breach of party discipline and awarded some time to the leader to come around.
Trinamool leaders like Serampore MP Kalyan Banerjee, on the other hand, have not been as subtle. “If it was not for Mamata Banerjee, you would have been selling potatoes at the Contai municipality,” he said at a public meeting on Thursday evening without naming Adhikari.
Without a doubt, the muddy waters within the ruling camp has provided fresh catchment areas for the Bengal BJP. Referring to The Mahabharata’s Book of Clubs which describes the destruction of the Yadavas through infighting, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said, “This is the Trinamool’s Mausala Parva. Many leaders are finding it difficult to stay in that party now. What they decide about their political future is their call, but the BJP will welcome them with open arms should they choose to come to us.”
Ahead of the 2021 state polls, the battle for Banerjee with her opponents outside her party could well turn equally crucial against those within.
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