Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday, instead of going to Delhi to attend the first meeting of the 14-member coordination committee of the INDIA grouping, said a source in Bengal's ruling party.

The leadership of Trinamul has also decided not to depute anyone in place of Abhishek for the meeting that will be held at the residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Delhi. The prickly issue of seat sharing by the constituents of the INDIA partnership will be taken up at the meeting on Wednesday.

"Our leader got the notice from the ED on September 10, while the date for the co-ordination committee meeting was decided a week ago.... On September 11, we informed the host of the meeting and also the Congress leadership about the ED notice. Both scoffed at the notice and called it political vendetta," said a Trinamul source, hinting that the main constituents of the INDIA alliance did not have any problem with Abhishek's absence from the meeting.

The source added that some of the INDIA constituents were likely to repost Abhishek's September 10 post on X ridiculing the ED's summons.

The Diamond Harbour MP has been summoned in connection with the alleged recruitment scam.

According to the Trinamul leadership, if the party's national general secretary does not show up at the ED office on Wednesday, some people will start accusing him of running away from the investigation and he doesn't want such narratives.

"We remain firmly committed to the INDIA grouping.... As we consider Wednesday's meeting important and not business as usual, no one is nominated to represent the party's national general secretary," said the source.

Although the Trinamul ecosystem is trying to claim that Abhishek's decision to skip the meeting has the approval of the other alliance partners, not everyone in the INDIA grouping is convinced.

"This is surprising.... Abhishek could have sent a letter to the ED requesting them to spare him at least on the day of the meeting. It is not that he had never skipped summons," said a leader of one of the important INDIA constituents.

Abhishek had been summoned by the ED in June during his massive outreach campaign Trinamuley Nabo Jowar (New Wave in Trinamul) ahead of the panchayat polls. On June 13, he wrote to the ED expressing his inability to appear before the agency as he was pre-scheduled to take part in a political programme.

"Let's assume that responding to the ED summons is important.... Then, he should have nominated someone senior for the meeting as it's very important," said a leader of a regional party on Tuesday.

He gave the example of Rajiv Ranjan Singh, better known as Lalan Singh, national president of the JD(U), who had nominated Sanjay Jha, a senior party leader and a cabinet minister in Bihar, to represent him at the meeting after he took ill.

Although a section of Trinamul leadership thinks such comments by other INDIA constituents do not mean much as the party is an integral part of the alliance, a senior national Opposition leader said the questions about Abhishek's absence couldn't be swatted away.

Trinamul, the source added, is yet to nominate members to four committees — other than the coordination committee —that were formed during the Mumbai conclave of 28 Opposition parties.

“Didi (Mamata Banerjee) was a key member of the alliance from the very beginning, but she was not her usual self in the Mumbai meeting... She was not present even in the news conference. The sudden change in her approach to the alliance has surprised most of us,” said a source, wondering whether “any extraneous factor” had suddenly changed the Trinamul’s approach towards the alliance.

The source, however, did not want to divulge what he meant by the “extraneous factor”.

“People in Delhi are aware of various attempts by vested interests to break the alliance.... We can hope that Didi and her party will show the resilience to handle the pressure,” the source added.

While some of the INDIA constituents are trying to make sense of Trinamul’s moves, there is little doubt that the Mumbai conclave did not make Mamat happy.

“Our party, along with AAP, RJD and JD(U), were in favour of the speedy resolution of the seat sharing arrangements.... But there was dithering on the part of the Congress, which seemed to have the backing of the CPM,” said a Trinamul source.

Mamata was also upset with the structure of the meeting during which she had to sit through “long and winding speeches” of Left leaders. “She was keen on action, while there was only talking.... We remain committed to the alliance,” said a source.

The questions from the leaders of the INDIA constituents assumed significance after the leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, expressed his disappointment over the ED summons to Abhishek Banerjee.

“The ED has summoned him (Abhishek) as the agency has to submit an action taken report in connection with his interrogation before Calcutta High Court on September 14. I don’t have any confidence or trust in the agency in connection with the probe related to Bhaipo (Abhishek),” Adhikari told the reporters on Tuesday.