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Internal differences widen in TMC, BJP watches minister Suvendu Adhikari
Many TMC veterans fear desertions in the rank and file of the party ahead of the assembly polls which are due in about six months.
Differences over running the party and selection of candidates for the coming assembly polls in West Bengal have rapidly widened in recent weeks between the top leadership of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and several district leaders, especially transport minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Many party veterans said they are apprehending desertions in the rank and file ahead of the polls which are due in about six months.
A two-time former Lok Sabha member with an impressive fan following among party workers, Adhikari, 50, is acknowledged as one of the leaders who helped TMC chief Mamata Banerjee galvanize the anti-land acquisition movement at Nandigram in East Midnapore district during the Left Front rule. The two-year-long movement became a key factor in the CPI(M)’s ouster in 2011 because of the violence. The former youth leader of the TMC also oversaw poll preparations in other districts after the TMC came to power.
Adhikari’s differences with the TMC has increased so much that on Tuesday he will observe the success of the Nandigram movement and condole the death of party workers outside the ambit of the TMC. The Nandigram Diwas (day) rally has been organised by Adhikari’s followers who, over the past few months, have been putting up banners and posters in districts across Bengal, declaring Adhikari as their leader and making no mention of the TMC. Over the last seven days, these posters appeared in north Bengal as well. This is unprecedented in the TMC.
Senior party leaders told HT on condition of anonymity that Adhikari is specifically unhappy with Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee and election strategist Prashant Kishor who was roped in by the chief minister after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
“Suvendu wants the party to field candidates of his choice in 65 assembly seats spread across several districts. This is unacceptable to the leadership. We are aware that he was approached by the BJP. There is nothing one can do if he is determined to leave. But we have information that he is not yet ready to join the saffron camp,” a top TMC leader told HT on Monday evening.
“Like several other district leaders, Adhikari is also not ready to follow instructions from I-Pac, Kishor’s company,” said another TMC leader.
Adhikari was not available for comment but a leader known to be close to him said, “He will lose his independence if he joins the BJP. He may launch his own platform instead for the time being which will give him bargaining power whichever way the poll results go.”
Incidentally, Union home minister Amit Shah, who was on a two-day tour of Bengal last week, avoided answering questions on whether the BJP was keen on taking Adhikari on board.
On Monday, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh and national vice-president Mukul Roy (a former TMC leader) flew to Delhi for a few hours to discuss poll strategy with national leaders. Members of the party’s core team led by B L Santhosh, national general secretary (organization) and a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pointsman, also discussed the issue of desertions from the TMC.
“It is different thing if Adhikari joins the BJP. Otherwise our party is unlikely to form an alliance with anyone before the elections. What may happen after the polls is something only the future can tell,” said a senior BJP leader who did not wish to be named.
Adhikari and his family have played a key role in the growth of the TMC in East Midnapore. The Kanthi and Tamluk Lok Sabha seats, most of the assembly segments comprising these and a many local bodies are controlled by 78-year-old Sisir Adhikari and his three sons since 2009.
Sisir Adhikari, who served as a minister in the Manmohan Singh govt (2009-2012), is the sitting MP from Kanthi. His second son Dibyendu is the MP from Tamluk. Dibyendu’s elder brother Suvendu, who held the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat twice, resigned in 2016 to become a minister in Bengal. Dibyendu won the Kanthi South assembly seat in 2009, 2011 and 2016. He vacated it to become an MP when Suvendu became a minister. Sisir Adhikari’s youngest son Soumendu is the chairman of Kanthi municipality.
Troubled by infighting among district TMC leaders, Abhishek Banerjee and Kishor travelled to Siliguri in north Bengal last month to sort things out. Mihir Goswami, the lawmaker from Cooch Behar South seat, who did not meet them despite being summoned, announced on Monday that he will leave the TMC.
At Singur in south Bengal, Rabindranath Bhattacharya, the local lawmaker and former school teacher with a clean image, also threatened to quit in protest against appointment of some organizational leaders at community block level. “The thought of joining another party has crossed my mind. I have received proposals,” said Bhattacharya, who is fondly called “Mastermoshai” (teacher) by local people. Singur had witnessed a major anti-land acquisition movement by Mamata Banerjee against the Tata’s small car project.
Though infighting is not new in the TMC, the current spate has its roots in the induction of younger faces in district committees during a reshuffle in July this year. Done on the recommendations of Kishor, the structural changes have made many old-timers insecure.
In May 2017, the state BJP started acting on a masterplan prepared by Amit Shah who was then party president. Taking some pointers from the Marxists’ proverbial organisational strategy, Shah instructed state leaders to expand the BJP’s presence right down to 77,000-odd polling booth areas. Since that work is not yet complete, split in the TMC’s district units can only help the BJP, saffron camp leaders feel.
