Calcutta: On Saturday (December 19), while welcoming Suvendu Adhikari, a former Trinamool Congress (TMC) heavyweight, to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a rally in the West Midnapore district, the Minister of the Interior President Amit Shah said a series of defections from now on will leave Mamata Banerjee alone by the time the 2021 assembly elections are held.
The TMC reacted immediately, saying that the defections of some leaders did not matter to the party because it depended on the workers and the support of the masses, who only look at Mamata and no one else.
“In 2016, Mamata Banerjee had said that she was the party’s 294-seat candidate. She said that even in Nandigram, Suvendu Adhikari’s constituency, that at that time she did not have the courage to object and say that he was the real candidate, ”said TMC MP Lok Sabha Kalyan Banerjee, a part of the seven members. TMC’s steering committee of which Adhikari was also a part until earlier this week.
Political observers, however, do not dismiss Adhikari simply as another TMC leader. He was known to have his own fan base in different districts. Additionally, Mukul Roy and Adhikari were the two TMC leaders who engineered most of the defections to the TMC from Congress and left-wing parties.
Roy has already played his role in getting disgruntled TMC leaders to join the BJP and now, with Adhikari boarding the same boat, the duo could make it difficult for the TMC to keep other leaders and members in line.
Indicating that the loss of Adhikari will not be simply the loss of a leader, TMC’s Contai MLA Banashri Maiti, Monteshwar MLA Saikat Panja, Kalna MLA Biswajit Kundu and Gajole MLA Deepali Biswas have followed Adhikari into the BJP, along with TMC MP for Burdwan East Sunil Kumar. Mandal.
Two other TMC MLAs switched camps, along with two left wing MLAs and one Congressional MLA, a former TMC MP Lok Sabha and a former TMC minister.
There were several other leaders at the district level, including elected public representatives in panchayat and municipal bodies, who joined the saffron camp.
According to political analyst Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhuri, professor of political science at Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata, the recent rebellions in the TMC are the result of the reorganization of the party from lower to higher levels, during which many leaders saw reduced its influence. .
“The recent shakeup was made on the basis of the Prashant Kishor team’s surveys of the grassroots image of TMC leaders in the districts. Those who had their influence reduced had, in many cases, a bad public image, public relations or organizational capacity. It cannot be said that every leader who joins the BJP will bring good fortune to the party, ”said Basu Ray Chaudhuri.
He said rumors had been circulating for more than a year that a good number of TMC’s sitting MLAs would not get a ticket in the upcoming election. “This apprehension could lead several other TMC leaders to jump ship,” he said.
Here we take a look at some of the leaders who joined the BJP and their current position at the TMC.
Sunil mandal
Sunil Mandal had won the 2011 assembly elections with a candidacy from the Forward Bloc, but passed to the TMC prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, courtesy of Mukul Roy. He was elected from the Burdwan East Lok Sabha constituency on a TMC roster in 2014 and 2019. At the end of 2019, Mamata had entrusted him with the reactivation of the party cell for the scheduled Caste and Tribal communities. However, dissatisfied with his performance, the party later removed his position. In recent months, he had been less active in the party’s organizational affairs.
Dipali Biswas
Gajole’s MLA in Malda district won the 2016 assembly elections with a candidacy from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), but joined the TMC shortly thereafter. Her husband, Ranjit Biswas, also became a leader of TMC. However, in the recent reorganization of the party, her husband lost the position of chairman of TMC’s Gajole bloc unit and was appointed general secretary of the Malda district unit, a less powerful position. Suvendu Adhikari had brought Dipali to the TMC and Malda’s TMC leadership was suspicious of his next moves, as Adhikari made his departure very clear.
Saikat panja
The Monteshwar MLA of East Burdwan District had been at the center of infighting within the party since it was elected in the November 2016 by-elections following the death of its father, who was then the MLA Sajal Panja. TMC’s local leadership found it difficult to get along with the new MLA, and earlier this year a section of TMC’s Monteshwar bloc leadership even decided to boycott the MLA entirely. For the past few months, Panja had been inactive and had said in early November that he had lost all interest in the TMC.
Biswajit Kundu
Biswajit Kundu, the Kalna MLA since 2011, was also facing an internal rivalry, with most of the TMC leaders from Kalna, including Kalna II bloc chairman Pranab Roy and Kalna municipal chairman Deb Prasad Bag, they didn’t get along with him. It has been inactive since October, after the party’s reorganization in September saw its influence diminish. He did not participate in the party’s block-level conferences, and by the end of October TMC’s East Burdwan district unit leadership was confident that he was leaving. The block-level conferences in Kalna were held in early November without Kundu’s presence.
Silbhadra Dutta
Known as a Mukul Roy loyalist, the North 24-Parganas District Barrackpore MLA had become inactive and stayed away from party activities for over a year. Months ago, he had announced that he will no longer compete on a TMC ballot and had withdrawn from all party activities for the 2021 elections.
Sukra Munda
The element of surprise among those who joined the BJP was an MLA from Nagrakata in the Jalpaiguri district of North Bengal. Sukra Munda had been actively participating in party activities until the beginning of last week and had been praising Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He even attended Mamata’s meeting with the leaders of the Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri districts on December 14. A few months ago he was appointed vice president of the Jalpaiguri district unit.
Banashree Maiti
Contai North MLA has been representing the constituency since 2011. Banashree Maiti had been active in the party’s organizing work until October, but began distancing herself from November. Known as a Suvendu Adhikari loyalist, she did not attend the Mamata rally in the West Midnapore district on December 7.
Dasharath Tirkey
Dasharath Tirkey won the 2011 assembly elections with a candidacy from the Revolutionary Socialist Party, but passed to the TMC before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He then became the deputy of Alipurduars. However, he lost in 2019 to the BJP candidate. He enjoyed organizational importance at TMC. Some BJP workers held protest marches in Alipurduar on Saturday against Tirkey’s joining the party.
Shyamapada Mukherjee
Shyamapada Mukherjee, a minister in Mamata’s cabinet from 2011 to 2016, lost the 2016 assembly elections, but continued as president of the Bishnupur municipality. His importance in the TMC had been reduced lately. However, it is unlikely that he will have a smooth entry into his new party as BJP workers had already held demonstrations in Bankura district after news broke that Mukherjee could join the BJP. Local BJP leaders from Bishnupur alleged that it is against Mukherjee’s ‘misdeeds’ that they build their movement in the area.
Mihir goswami
Cooch Behar Dakshin MLA, who joined the BJP in November, was unhappy about the reorganization in the bloc and leadership at the district level, as he felt his influence had waned. Local party leaders said that despite its clean image, it had not been giving time to organizing work and thus more active leaders were given greater responsibilities. Goswami was unhappy that the Prashant Kishor organization had a full say in these changes, as the Kolkata leadership supported the suggestions of the Kishor team and that Mamata took no initiative to restore the respect that veterans like him should have received. .
Snigdhendu Bhattacharya is a journalist and author living in Kolkata.
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