Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamul national general secretary and MP, has decided to hold a major organisational meeting on the Lok Sabha polls with his party leadership down to the block level on February 16.
The Diamond Harbour MP’s decision is deemed significant as it is his first statewide organisational activity in a while, and it came in the wake of a long overdue meeting on Tuesday with chief minister and Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee after months of debates over growing distance between the "old guard" and "new lot".
Abhishek, who has been rarely seen in political activities unrelated to his Lok Sabha constituency since Durga Puja last year, will virtually meet all of his party’s MPs, MLAs, and block presidents from 3pm on February 16.
“Sweet relief," said a Trinamul insider. "We (at Trinamul) are finally freeing ourselves from that unbearable state of limbo that our poll campaign launch was ensnared in, because of the succession struggle, reflected in the sordid old-versus-new debate,” the insider, who had been losing sleep over the disquiet regarding the damage being caused by the prolonging of the debate over the rift, said.
“This decision makes it clearer that there was substantial agreement achieved on things that matter most, in the meeting between our top two,” he added, referring to the meeting of close to two hours between Mamata and Abhishek at her Kalighat residence on Tuesday.
Their meeting, amid purported tension between the two and their cliques in the senior leadership, fuelled further speculation on what transpired between the nephew-aunt duopoly. Sources said that besides Rajya Sabha names for the February 27 election, the two had discussed the fact that the Trinamul campaign for the Lok Sabha polls was basically on a long pause and needed to be launched fast with a bang.
At the February 16 meeting, said a Trinamul MP, Abhishek would issue strategic guidelines for the Lok Sabha campaign, which had been discussed at length with Mamata on Tuesday.
“He is likely to focus on the need to prioritise issues such as the BJP-led Centre’s step-motherly treatment of Bengal, the anti-people policies of the saffron regime that are ruining this nation, and how development and welfare initiatives of the Trinamul-led state government have benefited one and all,” said the MP.
He said Abhishek would especially warn against the damages of communal, divisive politics of hatred of the BJP, with the aim to polarise people for electoral victories.
“He will also stress the need to close ranks on the saffron juggernaut, which is likely to pull out all the stops in Bengal. He will highlight the utmost need to set aside internal differences, at least for now, for the party,” he added.
A Trinamul insider said that Mamata’s gesture of discussing Trinamul's Rajya Sabha names with Abhishek on Tuesday has worked.