The much-awaited meeting between chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress’s Birbhum president Anubrata Mondal did not take place even though a distance of barely 2.7km separated them in Bolpur on Tuesday.
Anubrata returned to his Bolpur home on Tuesday after spending two years in
Tihar jail.
After the convoy of Mamata — who was in Bolpur to hold a review meeting on the flood situation — rolled out of the varsity town in the afternoon, political circles in the district were abuzz with speculation on why Didi’s path didn’t cross that of her “favourite Keshto”.
“Forget about any meeting between Keshto da (as Anubrata is fondly called) and Didi. She didn’t even mention him, either during or after the meeting. We don’t know the exact reason, but it has surprised all of us,” said a senior Trinamool Congress leader from Birbhum known to be an Anubrata loyalist.
Anubrata had told the media that he was hoping to call on the chief minister in the afternoon.
“I have always been Didi’s man... and I always will be. If my health allows, I hope to meet her in the afternoon (after the meeting),” he told reporters hours before Mamata reached Bolpur from Durgapur.
Trinamool sources close to Anubrata had told reporters that a meeting was likely at Ranga Bitan where Mamata prefers to stay during her visits to Santiniketan. Mamata, however, left for Calcutta in the afternoon, leaving Anubrata’s supporters dejected.
The Birbhum strongman, arrested in August 2022 by the CBI for his alleged involvement in the cattle-smuggling case, was granted regular bail by Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court last Friday. Party leaders had publicly announced plans to give him a grand reception upon his return and large welcome gates with his photos were erected across the town.
Anubrata’s convoy was welcomed by a large section of Trinamool cadres in Bolpur and a huge gathering a huge gathering was spotted outside his three-storey Nichu
Patti home.
While the day of Anubrata’s grand homecoming ended in despair for his supporters, some of his close aides swung into damage-control mode.
“We must remember that he is out on bail, not acquitted. The ED or the CBI can arrest him again... A meeting with the chief minister would only reinforce the central agencies’ claims that he is an influential person,” said a senior Trinamool leader.
“Detractors may say a lot of things but we believe that he is still important for the party,” he added.
According to him, Anubrata has not been abandoned by the party unlike unlike former ministers Partha Chatterjee and Jyoti Priya Mallick.
“While those leaders were suspended or removed from their positions, Didi never replaced Keshto da as district president,” he said.
Mamata had set up a seven-member core committee to manage day-to-day party affairs in Anubrata’s absence and announced that she would oversee district politics herself. She had also urged party members to give Anubrata a hero’s welcome and reinstate him upon his return from jail.
Another narrative in the Trinamool circles, however, hinted at the possibility of Mamata distancing herself from Anubrata.
“Keshto da is undoubtedly a capable leader but he is not indispensable in Birbhum’s current political scenario. We won two Lok Sabha seats in his absence this time, with bigger margins compared with the 2019 elections,” said a Trinamool leader from the anti-Anubrata faction.