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‘TMC doors shut forever’: Abhishek Banerjee on rebel candidates in panchayat polls
Abhishek Banerjee said if a person contests as an independent candidate after being denied a party ticket in the panchayat polls, hoping that the party will take him back if he wins, it is not going to happen
KOLKATA: Ahead of the panchayat elections in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Friday made it clear to the aspiring candidates that they should not expect to be taken back into the party if they contest as independent candidates against the party and win.
“If someone thinks that they will contest as an independent candidate after being denied a ticket, he may do so. But if a person contests as an independent candidate after being denied a party ticket in the panchayat polls, hoping that party would take him back if he wins, it is not going to happen. The party’s doors will be shut for you forever,” Abhishek Banerjee told a public meeting in the Alipurduar district.
Abhishek Banerjee’s message to the panchayat election hopefuls comes at a time the party is preparing to select over 73,000 candidates for the three-tier panchayat elections; gram panchayat, panchayat samiti and zilla parishad.
Abhishek Banerjee is touring the state and camping in districts to lead the TMC’s outreach campaign. But as he reaches out to people, there have been multiple instances where elections held to identify the best party candidate have been disrupted.
A senior TMC leader said there have been instances where the ballot papers were looted and ballot boxes broken at multiple places including Gosaimari in Cooch Behar, Harirampur in South Dinajpur, Chanchol and English Bazar in Malda. In Cooch Behar, the TMC had to hold a re-poll the following day.
“Some people may think that he may secure his position of getting a party ticket by getting 20 votes more. This won’t happen. I am the gatekeeper here. I am saying this since day 1,” Banerjee said at Mathabhanga.
Mamata Banerjee, who joined Abhishek at one rally in Malda on Thursday, also urged the party leaders to maintain a balance between the party’s old-timers and the youth brigade.
“There shouldn’t be any division. We want unity. I always want the young generation to come forward. They will rule in the future. But the senior and the old timers must also get respect,” Mamata Banerjee said at the Malda rally.
In the 2022 civic body elections, dissident TMC candidates won more than 100 seats across the state. “Those who contested as independent candidates after being tickets in the municipal polls were not given re-entry into the party,” Banerjee said at a rally in Jalpaiguri.
