The TMC on Saturday cautioned those party activists who are fighting the upcoming West Bengal panchayat polls as independents after being denied tickets, asserting that they would not be taken back.
The party's warning comes after Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with senior leaders at her residence in the Bhabanipur area of south Kolkata.
"We would request party activists, who are fighting as independents, to withdraw their candidature and support the party's official candidates. It is a big fight. The entire party should stand united," TMC MP and senior leader Kalyan Banerjee said.
He said those who are fighting as independents are "working against the interest of the party" and they would never be "readmitted into the TMC".
"There are a few people who are fighting as independents. They are traitors and have no place in the party," he said.
During the conclusion of a two-month-long TMC's mass outreach campaign in South 24 Parganas, party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had on Friday cautioned activists, fighting as independents after being denied tickets.
Widespread violence over the filing of nominations for the July 8 polls has left five people dead and several injured in various parts of the state.
In the state's three-tier panchayat elections, a significant electorate of approximately 5.67 crores will exercise their franchise to choose representatives for nearly 74,000 seats in zilla parishads, panchayat samiti and gram panchayats.
Kalyan Banerjee also said the TMC is not bothered about the deployment of central forces "as the party is confident of victory" in the rural polls.
"Central forces were deployed in the 2013 panchayat polls, and the 2016 and 2021 assembly elections but the TMC had scored a massive victory," he added.
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