Anubrata Mondal on Saturday chaired a core committee meeting of the Birbhum unit of the Trinamool Congress, but confusion prevailed in the party on whether he would get back his preeminence in the TMC.

Mondal had returned to his Bolpur home 57 days ago after spending about two years in Tihar Jail for his alleged involvement in cattle smuggling.

The core committee meeting was his first major party programme after his release from prison. Mondal is the former Birbhum district president of the TMC.

A TMC insider said that Mondal was inducted as the seventh member of the core committee that had been looking after the party's affairs in his absence.

"Keshto (as Mondal is called by TMC leaders and workers) chaired today's meeting according to the instructions of our leader Mamata Banerjee and we have decided to run the party's affairs in a united manner. There is no division among us and all the seven members of the core committee will collectively steer the party ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls," said Bikash Roychowdhury, the core committee convenor.

The future of Mondal, who had the last word in the party's affairs before his arrest in August 2022, in the TMC had become a matter of speculation after the party's national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, told journalists that he was in favour of continuing with the core committee in Birbhum. Abhishek said the arrangement worked well for the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Within 24 hours of Abhishek's statement, core committee chairman Roychowdhury announced that a meeting would be held under Mondal's leadership.

"The two divergent signals created certain degrees of confusion about Keshto-da's present status in the party," said a source.

While his inclusion in the core committee pleased his followers, a section of TMC leaders argued that its continuation signalled that Mondal was unlikely to get back his position.

"As the party's district president, he (Anubrata) was the last word on political decisions. Now, any decision will require approval from the other members of the core committee that includes Birbhum Zilla Parishad chief Sheikh Kajal, known as a long-time rival of Anubrata," said a senior TMC leader.

Apart from Mondal and Kajal, the other five core committee members present at Saturday's meeting were deputy Speaker and Rampurhat MLA Asish Banerjee, state correctional home and MSME minister Chandranath Sinha, Labhpur MLA Abhijit Sinha, TMC district youth president Sudipta Ghosh and the committee's convenor and Suri MLA, Bikash Roychowdhury.

"Anubrata's inclusion as chairperson (of the core committee) will certainly satisfy his followers. But at the same time, the power of the core committee members remains intact, as Anubrata cannot make decisions unilaterally. This is a balanced approach to resolve the growing political conflict in the district," said the leader.