Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday sent out a message to rebels in the Trinamul Congress without naming them that she had been watching every move and there would be consequences.
The chief minister maintained a silence till Wednesday on murmurs that transport minister Suvendu Adhikari and some MPs and MLAs were about to quit the party and join the BJP in the run up to the Assembly polls.
At her first political rally since the Covid-19 pandemic pressed a pause button on all public programmes, Mamata made it clear that she was keeping a tab on everything.
“You will see one or two, who are in the party, but have been staying in touch with others, here and there. Do not think that Didi (Mamata) doesn’t know. She does. Didi has allowed them to do this for this long because she needed to understand what they are capable of,” Mamata told the rally in Bankura.
“Down to every block, who is doing what, where, staying in touch with whom… every account I have been keeping. A to Z… and will continue doing so,” she added.
Bengal has been rife with rumours over Adhikari’s political future since this summer and the speculation intensified in the past one month because of his certain remarks and absence from several state government and party programmes, the BJP’s comments regarding him and cryptic banners hailing him at various places across the state.
Besides, Trinamul has also been firefighting in several corners of the state, with MLA after MLA speaking out against the management of party affairs, especially by poll consultant Prashant Kishor. From Singur MLA Rabindranath Bhattacharya to Cooch Behar South MLA Mihir Goswami, Sitai MLA Jagadish Barma Basunia to Hariharpara MLA Niamot Sheikh, there have been many public statements of displeasure in a matter of weeks.
On Wednesday, Mamata responded sternly.
“We think they are… dhandabaj (opportunists). There is a group of such opportunists. That group is very small…. Those trying to clear their paths (for switching sides) thinking there is a chance. There is zero chance of them (the BJP) coming to power,” she said.
“Everywhere, our workers must watch out for them, monitor them closely. Who is going to whose place at 2am. In the dead of night, who is speaking to whom… look out for cars moving around in the dark. You will understand everything,” she added.
Amid speculation on what Adhikari’s next step would be, the Trinamul leadership has shown eagerness to retain him in the fold and fielded party vice-president Saugata Roy to break the ice with him. Two rounds of meetings have failed, a source said before adding that another meeting was lined up in the next few days.
Mamata touched upon the abolition of observer posts in Trinamul, which many believe was a direct reference to transport minister Adhikari.
“Some seem to wonder, who is the observer of Bankura, of Purulia… who is handling Midnapore, what about Asansol, or Jalpaiguri…. Let me tell you this now, let me give this message to the party first: across Bengal, as a worker, I am the observer now,” said Mamata.
“In every corner of the state, as a worker of our party, I will be the only observer... The way I handle all responsibilities of the government, I will do the same for the party too now.
Because I think I was getting overburdened with work, which resulted in a bit of laxity (party-wise). I will no longer allow that,” the Trinamul chief added.
The buzz in Trinamul has been that Adhikari has been bitterly displeased with the leadership over his loss — as the party’s observer — of control over six key districts of Bankura, West Midnapore, Jhargram, Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur.
Adhikari, a source said, was convinced that the decision to do away with the observers had been taken by Mamata’s nephew and Trinamul’s de facto Number Two Abhishek Banerjee and Prashant Kishor. “In his parleys with the party, Suvendu has suggested that he wants that control back, but Didi doesn’t seem to be in the mood to give in to his demand.”
Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty
