Unease in Trinamool over Abhishek’s absence at key party event

Trinamool unease over Abhishek Banerjee's absence at key event; old & new tussle over functioning and decision making. Differences between old and new turks in Trinamool over functioning and decision making, with Abhishek Banerjee leading campaign against denial of wages and missing deadline for agitation.

Fresh signs of unease in the Trinamool Congress have surfaced over the past few days on the issue of general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s absence at the party’s key event on November 23.

On November 23, party chairperson and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addressed the party rank and file at Kolkata’s Netaji Indoor Stadium. The Chief Minister’s nephew and Diamond Harbour MP Mr. Banerjee was conspicuous by his absence.

The Trinamool national general secretary made a brief appearance virtually on a giant screen at the stadium to greet the gathering with folded hands. The Chief Minister said the party general secretary was missing because of medical issues relating to an eye injury which he had suffered in 2016.

The very next day party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, who is believed to be close to Mr. Banerjee, said the general secretary’s photograph should have been there at the programme

“There is no tiff between the old and the new. It is not about Mamata Banerjee against Abhishek Banerjee; both are a team. The party needs both of them. However, I feel that any major programme of Trinamool cannot be held without Abhishek Banerjee. His photograph should have been there at the programme yesterday,” the party spokesperson had told a Bengali news channel on November 24.

The controversy did not end with remarks of the party spokesperson. On Monday, November 27, another party leader and MLA Madan Mitra spoke on similar lines and said the event at the Netaji Indoor Stadium was organised in a hurry.

“I read the newspaper and found out about it [Trinamool event]. That is, everything was done in a hurry. Because there was an industry conference the day before, a film festival after it,” the Kamarhati MLA said.