TMC grapples with infighting amid uncertainty over LS seat-sharing talks with Congress

The Trinamool Congress leadership on Wednesday (January 3) scurried to douse the infighting in the party, as the tussle between its two factions and uncertainty over configuration of the proposed INDIA alliance in Bengal, have put the ruling party in a tight spot ahead of the 2024 elections.

These twin issues are holding back the party from switching to a complete election mode even though barely a few months are left for the polls, party sources admitted in private.

The TMC is currently in the grip of a full-blown fratricidal strife between those claiming allegiance to the party’s supreme leader Mamata Banerjee and loyalists of party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

TMC’s Byapari fears for his life

The ill-will generated by the spat that erupted on its foundation day on January 1 lingered on Thursday (January 4) with a party MLA expressing his fears that he could be killed by his party colleagues.

“My MLA office at the constituency was vandalised and people manning the office were attacked. I was in Kolkata. Had I been there, they would have killed me,” Balagarh MLA Manoranjan Byapari said on Thursday. 

The attack took place on Wednesday night, ostensibly in retaliation to a Facebook post the legislator had shared that evening.

“Some bed bugs are destroying the party. I am getting threats for speaking out against corruption in the party. I am scared for my life,” he had alleged in the post on Wednesday.

Claiming he had been isolated in the party, Byapari said in the post that he did not get any respite even after addressing the party leadership. The TMC legislator in a Facebook post stated that he would announce his future course of action on January 7.

“I don’t know whether the announcement would do any good to the TMC or me. For the past two to three years, I have endured enough humiliation. I will not tolerate this anymore,” he wrote.

Though Byapari did not name anyone in his Facebook post, party sources said he was particularly peeved with the party’s Hooghly Zila Parishad member Runa Khatun. Without naming her, the MLA said, “Phoolan Devi of Balagarh, who roams around with sharpshooters, has threatened to bury me alive.”

Meanwhile Runa Khatun retort was swift. “Maybe I have become an impediment to his unethical deeds and that has made me an eyesore for him,” he said.

Earlier in June, Byapari had resigned from two key party posts over differences with the party leadership on the selection of panchayat candidates. It was Abhishek Banerjee who called the shots in allotting party nominations for the rural polls.

Incidentally, Byapari signed off on his Facebook post on Wednesday by hailing Mamata Banerjee.

After his outburst, the party’s top leadership reportedly stirred into action to work out a truce between the two warring factions.

Caste factor

A pioneer of Dalit literature in Bengal, rickshaw puller-turned-author-turned-politician Byapari is one of the most prominent Scheduled Caste faces of the TMC.

His outburst could hurt the party in the elections at a time when the BJP government at the Centre is planning to frame CAA rules to woo one of the largest SC communities of the state, the Matuas.

“When the party should ideally be planning how to counter the BJP’s Matua outreach bid, it is facing the ire of one of its SC MLAs, who happens to be a noted Dalit writer. The consequences will not be good for the party,” said a TMC leader from the Matua community.

Another spat

Earlier in the day, another row within the party broke out when minister of state for planning and statistics Tapas Roy took a potshot at TMC party MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay calling him a 'white elephant'.

Bandyopadhyay in response to Roy’s earlier jibes had scoffed, “Hathi chale bazaar….”

Though he did not complete the Hindi proverb (‘Hathi chale bazaar, kutte bhauke hazar’, which translates to ‘the elephant walks majestically unperturbed by the barking of a thousand dogs’), the message was not lost.

Bickering within party members

For the past few days, a section of TMC leaders have been openly engaging in a war of words, sending out worrying signals to their supporters. Due to the constant bickering, the party leaders cannot put their heads together to chart a strategy for the 2024 elections, said TMC insiders.

“Efforts have been made to rein in the motormouths and loose cannons,” said a TMC legislator.

Senior TMC leader and Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, who is known to be close to Mamata Banerjee, appealed for peace.

“I request all (party colleagues) if there is any problem within the party, it should be discussed in the party forum. Kindly don’t resort to a war of words. The party is now gearing up for an important battle (general elections). We will have to fight it unitedly, keeping in mind the immense sacrifices of our leader Mamata Banerjee to build the party,” he said on Wednesday evening.

INDIA alliance’s quandary in Bengal

The party is also bogged down by the limbo in seat-sharing arrangements with the INDIA alliance.

The TMC is keen for an alliance with the Congress to prevent any split in the state’s 27 per cent minority votes, the party sources informed.

However, the TMC is not willing to give more than three seats to the grand old party. It won Malda South and Baharampur Lok Sabha seats in 2019. The TMC is willing to give these two seats to the Congress. It might also consider giving Darjeeling seat for the Congress, as it has recently got a shot in the arm in the hills after Binay Tamang, former chairperson of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, joined the party.

The Pradesh Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is bargaining for at least seven seats. Chowdhury is reportedly not very keen for an alliance with the TMC. He wants to continue the party’s alliance with the CPI(M)-led Left Front that was formed ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Left Front, which is also a part of the INDIA alliance, is reportedly mounting pressure on the Congress not to ally with the TMC adding to the political uncertainty in the state.