Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has asked party colleagues to start preparing for assembly polls next year, ruling out the possibility of an early election.
“I want all of you to start preparing for next year’s polls from now. All of you must visit your respective constituencies every fortnight from now on and be in touch with the workers,” the Trinamool Congress leader told her parliamentarians and state legislators in a closed-door meeting at her residence here in the city.
Banerjee has also instructed every elected legislator of her party to create a direct contact with the people and that they must know the names and numbers of at least fifteen people from each block of their constituency.
Expressing her anger against some ministers squabbling with each other, Banerjee warned that during the last parliamentary election and in the recently concluded civic polls, the party had lost a few seats due to internal feuds.
“We lost the Asansol seat which BJP won due to internal fights. The same was seen during the civic election where a fight between two ministers cost us a winning seat in north Kolkata. The party will not tolerate the same,” parliamentarian Subrata Bakshi said.
Banerjee also further elevated her nephew Abhishek Banerjee in the party hierarchy, putting him in charge of the crucial districts of West and East Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura.
“Didi [Banerjee] has been grooming him [Abhishek] for some time now and is giving him more responsibility. He led the campaign in the civic polls quite successfully. It has been decided that from next month Abhishek will tour the districts,” a Trinamool legislator who was at the meeting said.
Sources also said Abhishek will share his responsibilities with Subrata Bakshi in the two southern districts of the state and with parliamentarian Kalyan Banerjee in Bankura and Purulia.
The move is seen within the party as Abhishek replacing Mukul Roy, the former all-India general secretary of the TMC, making him the undeclared number two.
“There is no official position for the number two in the party. But everyone knew it was Mukul. Now Abhishek is to replace him but it will be no easy task,” an insider said.
However, the decision not to bring forward the polls has given much relief to most TMC leaders, as many believe that an agreement has been reached with the BJP.
“She is in no hurry which proves that she knows we are coming back to power. There is hardly any opposition in the state with almost all Congress party elected representatives willing to shift side. The initial rise of the BJP has been tamed and CPM is in complete disarray with lack of leadership,” the legislator added.
However, state BJP leaders are patiently waiting for Banerjee to return from Dhaka and start the agitation once again.
“We are keeping quite as it may upset [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi’s Bangladesh visit. But no way can the party be seen engaging with the TMC. Issues such as the Burdwan blast, Saradha scam would be brought back into focus along with several new exposés in the days ahead,” said a state BJP leader, unwilling to be named.
