Cadres fear BJP may weaken TMC grassroots before Kolkata civic polls
New Delhi: As the Trinamul Congress cracks down on alleged “anti-party activities” by suspending leaders like Kartik Ghosh, Riju Dutta and Kohinoor Majumder, a far more dangerous undercurrent is beginning to surface within the party ranks against high-profile national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and widely seen as the heir apparent to the TMC throne. There is also a growing fear within the TMC that as the Kolkata Municipal Corporation election, due in December, gets closer, the BJP will strike at its grassroots networks -- the very foundation of the TMC’s political machinery.
Meanwhile, as the TMC targets a handful of leaders accused of violating the party line, several senior functionaries have quietly begun turning on the powerful “Pishi-Bhaipo” (aunt-nephew) duo from the shadows. The anger brewing in the party is mainly against Abhishek Banerjee and his I-PAC team.
Speaking to this correspondent from Kolkata, a senior party MLA lashed out, saying “arrogance of power” and “blatant nepotism” had “ruined” the party. The legislator alleged that along with his “I-PAC cronies”, Abhishek had systematically “marginalised” the “committed workers”. Following the crushing electoral defeat, senior leaders have accused the TMC of indulging in corruption during ticket distribution and internal mismanagement.
Recently, former TMC MP Jawhar Sircar posted on X that he had repeatedly cautioned Mamata Banerjee that corruption and extortion allegations were damaging the party’s image. He blamed the “nefarious” party leaders for leading the party into a political mess. Former TMC MLA Sourav Chakraborty pointed out that I-PAC brought in new people while ignoring the party’s loyal and committed workers.
Speaking from Kolkata, the TMC legislator painted a grim picture of the party’s future, warning that the run-up to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls could trigger a massive exodus of grassroots workers toward the BJP. “The BJP might not target TMC MLAs, since it already has the number that it needs… Its real focus will be on dismantling the party from the ground,” he said. “And if the grassroots collapses, it may sound the death knell for the TMC,” he cautioned.
While this section of senior leaders stopped short of directly blaming Mamata Banerjee, many privately admitted that her “blind affection” for Abhishek had accelerated the party's internal disintegration.
Revisiting the party’s history, the TMC leader pointed to the exit of Mukul Roy, once seen as the principal organisational architect of the TMC alongside Ms Banerjee. According to him, Abhishek Banerjee’s rapid rise within the party coincided with the systematic sidelining of Mukul Roy, triggering deep resentment within sections of the old guard. Incidentally, Mukul Roy, who switched over to the BJP in 2017 and returned after the 2021 Assembly polls, but remained largely inactive due to health issues. He passed away on February 23 this year.
The TMC leader also pointed to Suvendu Adhikari’s exit as another defining moment in the party’s internal power struggle. He revealed that Adhikari, then the chief of Trinamul Youth Congress, wielded enormous influence across the politically crucial districts of Malda, Murshidabad and Dinajpur. The leader claimed that tensions began escalating when Abhishek Banerjee floated a parallel youth brigade within the party, a move that unsettled Adhikari. Matters came to a head when Mamata Banerjee replaced Adhikari with Abhishek as the head of the party’s official youth wing. What followed was a gradual erosion of Adhikari's organisational turf. The three “important and lucrative districts” were steadily taken away and brought under Abhishek’s control. At that time, Adhikari, who was serving as transport minister in Mamata Banerjee’s Cabinet, had also become the target of a sting operation in the Narada scam. Eventually, amid widening cracks with the TMC leadership, Adhikari resigned from the Cabinet in November 2020, quit as an MLA on December 16 that year, and formally joined the BJP on December 19, 2020 -a defection that would dramatically alter the political landscape of West Bengal.
