Trinamul will not allow the re-induction of any dissident party worker or leader who is now contesting as an Independent in the July 8 panchayat elections, the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said here on Sunday.
“We selected candidates based on peoples’ feedback during the Nabajowar (statewide outreach) campaign. Such selections have irked some leaders and workers and some are contesting as Independents. Let me make it unequivocally clear that none of them will be allowed re-entry to the party after the rural polls,” he told a crowd of 10,000 in Malda's Sujapur.
“Those who ditched the party ahead of elections have no place in Trinamul. Later, even if any such person who stood as Independent is re-inducted at a local level, I will ensure the person is expelled from the party again,” he said.
For the past few months, and particularly after the Sagardighi bypoll where the Left-backed Congress candidate won, Trinamul recast its focus on Malda and Murshidabad, considered erstwhile Congress strongholds.
“Both these districts have a high concentration of minorities and Trinamul is determined to retain their support and thwart the Congress,” said an observer.
Abhishek also accused the Congress and the Left of being “hand-in-glove” with the BJP.
“In Patna, Rahul Gandhi is sitting with Mamata Banerjee and announcing that they are determined to oust the BJP from power," he said, referring to the recent national Opposition meeting. "But in Bengal, the Congress and CPM are working with the BJP against us. The Congress MPs from here have never exerted any pressure on the Centre so that funds (of welfare schemes), which are held up, are released,” said the Trinamul MP.
Mamata virtual speech
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will address a public rally in Birbhum's Khoirasole virtually from her Kalighat home on Monday.
This will be her first campaign rally for the July 8 rural polls after she suffered injuries while alighting from a chopper during its emergency landing on the outskirts of Siliguri last week.