All’s Not Well Between Trinamool & I-PAC, and It’s There for All To See!

As protests rock the TMC camp, fingers have been pointed at I-PAC for overruling the recommendation of TMC leaders.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee (left) and election strategist Prashant Kishor. 

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

Widespread protests have rocked the Trinamool Congress camp since Friday, 4 February after the party released the names of candidates for the upcoming elections to 108 municipal corporations, slated for 27 February.

While the party’s state General Secretary Partha Chatterjee was releasing the candidate list at a press conference, a different list was uploaded to the party’s Facebook page, leading to massive protests across the state. The party later clarified that the uploaded list was not approved by its chairperson Mamata Banerjee.

Despite the clarification, the protests did not subside as the cadres were not happy with candidature. In this, several leaders have accused political strategist Prashant Kishor's I-PAC of being involved in the candidate's list and choosing candidates themselves without taking into account the recommendations of the local leaders.

What this incident also brings to light is a factional feud within the TMC camp where some senior leaders are supposedly not happy with the growing influence of national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee however refused to comment on the TMC-I-PAC row, calling it the "party's internal matter".

The I-PAC Impact

When a separate list was uploaded to the party’s Facebook page, several senior leaders blamed the Indian Political Action Committee that the party had finalized the list of candidates without their endorsement.

I-PAC sources told The Quint that they had no role to play in deciding the candidates for the Municipal elections. However, some local TMC leaders on the condition of anonymity have contested I-PAC’s claims.

They continue to allege that I-PAC played a major role in deciding the candidates. They alleged that the name of a leader which was recommended by almost all the local leaders of a particular constituency was not given a ticket and instead, someone else was.

On several occasions in the past, leaders have also accused the organization of meddling into not only the party’s but also the functioning of the state government.

While there have been rumblings and even reports of a potential break-up between the TMC and I-PAC, sources with the I-PAC and some TMC leaders told The Quint that nothing on those lines has happened so far.

Also the row around I-PAC is only one part of a larger tussle within the TMC. There are several aspects to this.

One Post, One Person

Chatterjee while releasing the names of candidates had stressed upon the fact that ‘no MLA was given a ticket’ in adherence to the party’s stance on ‘one post, one person’, an ideology stressed upon by both Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

Senior TMC leader from Malda Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury who was the former English Bazar Municipality chairman from Malda was denied a ticket this time citing the fact that his wife was given a ticket, and that no two members of the same family were being given a ticket.

However, a quick look at the list throws up names of Mahestala MLA Dulal Das (Ward 15), and even his son Subhashis Das (Ward 17). There were some other instances of the same in Dulal Sarkar and his wife Chaitali.

Several leaders quit the party after being denied a ticket, including six-time councillor from Purulia Municipality Shamim Dad Khan, who left along with his two sons. Rukaiya Khatun, former Purulia councilor too, quit the party and joined the Congress after being denied a ticket.

It must be noted here that MLAs and MPs were given a ticket to contest the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Elections.

One of the worst affected areas was Kamarhati, where protestors blocked public transport and even threatened to bring the town to a halt. Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra alleged that the names of some candidates were dropped at the last minute.

It’s unfortunate that the names of some leaders, who were expecting to be among the candidates, were deleted from the final list. The party’s senior leadership has to deal with the situation

Madan Mitra, TMC MLA

Mitra didn’t stop there. He launched a scathing attack on TMC MP Sougata Roy, accusing him of destroying the party. He accused Roy of intentionally sabotaging the party’s poll chances. He said that there are agencies which are trying to capitalise on the alleged differences between Mamata and Abhishek.

Mitra publicly begged the West Bengal CM to let him handle his constituency and that if the TMC doesn't win all seats, he will resign from his post.

‘Recommended Candidates Didn’t Make it to the List’

As tyres were burnt, roads were blocked, and slogans were raised across several districts of Khardah, Barrackpore, Bankura, Cooch Behar, Burdwan, Contai and more, the protestors demanded one thing – a change of candidature from their respective constituency because the names recommended by the local leaders were not in the final list.

Moreover, they claimed that leaders who had recently defected from the BJP are being given tickets, whereas those who have been loyal to the party and have “given their blood and sweat” for the party are being sidelined.

This is reminiscent of what happened in the saffron camp, during the 2021 Assembly elections.

The convenor of Purba Medinipur even claimed that tickets were given to candidates who continue to be loyal to Suvendu Adhikari. A similar sentiment was echoed by senior TMC leader from Malda Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury.

In South 24 Parganas’ Sonarpur, town president Ranjit Roy alleged that he was not consulted by Sonarpur Dakshin MLA Lovely Maitra. Maitra denied all charges.

But it was not just grassroots leaders who were unhappy with the candidature. Even senior leaders and a minister too alleged that their recommendations were not considered. State Fisheries minister Akhil Giri said that two candidates on the list are in touch with the BJP, after protestors agitated outside his house in Contai.

Recently, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee had spoken up against Abhishek Banerjee saying that he will only consider Mamata Banerjee as his leader, giving rise to speculation of a growing distance between the party’s senior leaders and Abhishek Banerjee, especially after he took a different stand from the party on Sagar Mela, and his Diamond Harbour model.

Amid the factional feud in the party’s leadership, several fingers have pointed at political strategist Prashant Kishor and I-PAC.

All in all, the TMC isn’t a happy house with growing resentment amongst leaders against each other, with some against Abhishek who they feel still must prove his worth, and many against I-PAC who they feel are meddling more than they should. If one were to believe political commentators and experts, the ball is in Abhishek Banerjee’s court who stands at the center of everything that is unfolding.