Amid the simmering internal disputes in the Trinamool Congress, the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee responded to Kalyan Banerjee’s scathing attack, calling it “arrogant”.
“Kalyan Banerjee is older than me,” Abhishek Banerjee told reporters on Friday evening. “He has the right to express his opinions. He has seen me since childhood. I will not speak anything against him.”
Kalyan Banerjee attacks
These statements come in response to the 69-year-old lawyer’s statements in light of the current signing scandal surrounding the party. “I told Derek (O’Brien) that Mamata Banerjee has to choose – either him (Abhishek Banerjee) or me,” Kalyan Banerjee said. “It is a lot of arrogance. Look what he has done to the party. I have always said that you can only be my leader when you win Tripura or Goa.”
Besides demands by several members to quit the party, the TMC is also involved in what is being described as ‘Signgate’, a CID investigation alleging forgery of signatures of several party legislators on official documents submitted to the West Bengal Assembly. The controversy has already led to the expulsion of two TMC MLAs and put senior leaders under intense scrutiny.
Also read: What is the forged signature scandal that rocked TMC, Mamata Banerjee after Bengal election defeat?
“On Friday, I was handling this case, then there were raids and I mentioned the case on Wednesday. Suddenly they said they will send someone else,” Kalyan Banerjee alleged in connection with the case. “I have 45 years of experience, they can’t treat me like trash. I waited for work all day and then they decided to send someone called Ayan Bhattacharjee.”
