Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee foresaw the possibility of a revolt within her party soon after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) landslide victory in the May 4 Assembly elections, but had no solution to avert it, several TMC leaders said, a day after West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathendra Nath Bose recognized 58 rebel TMC legislators as the main opposition party in the 294-member House. Member. Wednesday.
“On May 5, a day after the counting of votes, she refused to resign from the post of chief minister, saying that the TMC had won the elections but the counting was rigged. Although the BJP termed this as arrogance, we interpreted it as a desperate message to the TMC’s dedicated workers and leaders. She clearly expected a crisis,” a senior TMC leader told HT, requesting anonymity.
In the two-phase elections, the BJP won a record 207 seats, while the TMC, which is seeking a fourth term in power, got just 80 seats. Although the TMC received 40.80% of the votes compared to 45.84% for the BJP, the difference in seat share indicated the polarization of Hindu votes – the community makes up about 70% of the population, according to the 2011 census – in favor of the BJP. On Wednesday, the 58-armed splinter group was recognized as the main TMC in the assembly.
Opposition was ignored
Concern against the party’s national general secretary and Mamata’s nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, has been simmering in the party for a long time, but Mamata has not taken corrective steps. During the 2022 municipal elections, the rebel group released its own list of candidates, but was forced to withdraw it after pressure from senior party officers, party leaders said.
Even after signs of discontent appeared, Banerjee took no action and continued to completely depend on her nephew through I-PAC to run the party, a senior party leader said. “Several senior leaders were marginalized during the ticket selection process in the Assembly, and any attempt to reflect on the decisions was silenced as dissent,” the party leader said.
There has been turmoil in the party since its 2021 victory over Abhishek Banerjee’s decision to outsource party operations to I-PAC, according to TMC leaders. “I-PAC was pitting local leaders against each other and sometimes telling senior leaders what to say, which was insulting to us senior leaders,” said a Lok Sabha member, who has so far sided with Banerjee.
Kispur MLA Siuli Saha, a member of the rebel group, said: “Didi (Mamata Banerjee) is still our leader but she needs to think. We have not been able to communicate with her since 2016. There was no platform where we could discuss our problems. There was no access to the top leadership at all. Can a political party that emerged from the ground function this way?”
Meanwhile, Mamata’s reaction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids on I-PAC’s Kolkata office and the subsequent arrest of its senior staff has shocked many senior leaders.
“Her arrival at Prateek Jain’s office and taking the files with him sent a message that she was more supportive of an advisor than her leaders who went to jail on corruption charges,” another party leader said, questioning how the party could outsource its strategy to an advisor.
Too little, too late
After the disaster, all of Mamata’s efforts to keep the party safe backfired.
In a bid to maintain the integrity of the party, the TMC Rajya Sabha MP said Banerjee appealed to the opposition parties to form a united front against the BJP.
“Though regional party leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal expressed their solidarity, all state parties, including the Congress, rejected their appeal. This has sent a negative message to our supporters,” an MP said.
Communist Party of India Bengal secretary Swapan Banerjee said: “Democracy was in danger under her rule. She is authoritarian.”
On May 15, Banerjee called a meeting of all the losing candidates, widening the cracks in the party.
“She summoned all the losing candidates to her residence to analyze the results, but expressed concern that some of them had made anti-TCM statements and held the I-PAC, the party’s strategic advisor, responsible for the debacle. The I-PAC, requesting anonymity, said it would not stop anyone from leaving the TMC and would start from scratch,” the I-PAC said, requesting anonymity.
Despite her plea, party leaders openly continued to blame I-PAC and Abhishek Banerjee for the defeat. Two party spokespersons, Riju Dutta and Kohinoor Majumdar, have been suspended over their comments to the media against I-PAC and Banerjee. Lok Sabha member Kalyan Banerjee, who is among the few MPs whom the party chief is still meeting, wondered whether the leadership had made a mistake in relying too much on I-PAC. His son was among those who lost these elections.
Many other senior party leaders did not come out in support of Banerjee over her handling of the polls, indicating anger among party workers against the leadership.
So far, 58 out of 80 armed armies have formed a splinter group in the assembly, which has been recognized as the TMC in the assembly. More than 100 municipal council members have resigned from the party. “The party was working in a corporate style for several years. There was no one to listen to us,” said former Transport Minister Sinhasish Chakraborty, who left the TMC on Wednesday.
Mizoram Solicitor General Biswajit Deb left the TMC on Wednesday.
“Such rampant corruption could not have happened without the knowledge of Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee. They are responsible. The TMC will collapse completely,” he said.
Veteran political writer Suvashis Maitra said dynastic rule is a phenomenon in almost all regional parties, except the Aam Aadmi Party, but none of them has witnessed a coup of this kind.
“Be it the Shiv Sena, the Samajwadi Party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) or the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the second generation leaders are not as successful as their fathers. However, none of them have faced insurgency like Abhishek. I-PAC seems to have become a target as it represents Abhishek’s leadership. The TMC’s center of power has shifted from Mamata’s Kalighat residence to Abhishek’s Kamak Street,” Mitra said.
“Moreover, Mamata Banerjee’s successive defeats to Suvendu Adhikari in 2021 and 2026 have also called into question her ability to ensure victory. TMC leaders now seem to be questioning her administrative and political credibility. This will not end here,” Mitra added.
