E-Paper
TMC plans to reorganize district units; more people may play leadership role
Election strategist Prashant Kishor and chief minister Mamata Banerjee met in Kolkata on Friday afternoon to discuss the proposed changes.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is planning to create more organisational units in the 23 districts, including Kolkata, of West Bengal and create more posts in a bid to decentralise the present structure, leaders aware of the development said on Sunday.
Election strategist Prashant Kishor and chief minister Mamata Banerjee met in Kolkata on Friday afternoon to discuss the proposed changes. The meeting, which continued for three hours, was held at the chief minister’s residence at Kalighat in south Kolkata. Her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was also present.
According to the proposed plans, the TMC wants to split its current district units into several parts and set up new committees with a president heading each of these. “This is being planned to ensure smooth operation and stop infighting over leadership control, something that has affected the party’s image as well as the results in some recent elections,” said a senior TMC leader who did not want to be named.
The changes are being made in view of the civic body election, which are overdue, as well as the 2023 panchayat polls and Lok Sabha polls in 2024, he added.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a similar organizational structure in the bigger districts. It has two units in Murshidabad and Nadia. Each of these is headed by a president. In North 24 Parganas, which has 34 assembly and five Lok Sabha seats, the BJP has four units. The BJP refers to these units as organizational districts. We plan to do this more extensively. It is not possible for one president to manage an entire district,” said the TMC leader.
TMC leaders said that following Kishor’s advice, Mamata Banerjee wants to firmly enforce the one-man-one-post policy and give more importance to young leaders to shake up the rank and file. Some announcements are likely to be made next week by the TMC chief.
Over the past two years, the TMC has replaced several senior leaders with younger people. This led to infighting and defections to the BJP in some districts.
The TMC will also relaunch Jago Bangla, the party mouthpiece. Abhishek Banerjee announced on Twitter on Saturday that the mouthpiece will undergo a transformation.
TMC leaders said the relaunch is likely to take place on July 21, which is observed as martyr’s day by the party every year in memory of the 13 members of the Youth Congress who fell to police bullets in Kolkata in 1993.
Mamata Banerjee was a Youth Congress leader in 1993. She led an agitation on July 21 against the then Left Front government. Over the years, the martyr’s day rally emerged as a symbol of the TMC’s struggle since its birth in 1998 and serves as a platform from where Banerjee sends out messages to party workers and declares future plans.
Held at Esplanade in the heart of Kolkata, the rally is a big crowd puller.
However, like last year, it will be held virtually because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Banerjee will address people on social media. Giant screens and monitors will be installed in public places and TMC offices across the state.
