Sporadic agitations over selection of TMC candidates for polls to 108 municipalities were registered in different districts of West Bengal on Saturday as several disgruntled activists were seen taking to the streets to burn tyres and raise slogans in protest. State minister and senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim said it was an "internal matter" and all differences would be sorted out soon.
At Kamarhati in North 24 Parganas, a section of members of Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC) stopped some autos and buses from plying during the day and forced the service operators to join its protest over the nomination list.
In Egra municipality of Purba Medinipur district, TMC activists held demonstrations outside the residence of state minister Akhil Giri, who promised to look into the matter.
Officials said RAF personnel had to be deployed at Khosbagan area of Purba Bardhaman district to quell protests by agitated TMC activists. In Katwa, a few TMC men reportedly broke down before leader Rabindranath Chattopadhyay over non-inclusion of certain names. Similar protests were reported from other districts of the state. TMC Secretary General Partha Chatterjee had said on Friday evening that "there can be only one first boy in a class".
"We have decided to pick the most suitable candidates. Others may feel disheartened but they should not show any dissent. If they do so, the party will take action," Chatterjee had asserted. A section of party leadership has blamed TMC's poll consultant Prashant Kishor for the trouble, but sources in his organisation, I-Pac, said he had no role to play in the selection of civic poll nominees.
TMC's Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra, who faced protests in his constituency over the issue, said he would take up the matter with party supremo Mamata Banerjee. Meanwhile, discrepancies were spotted in two nomination lists -- one that was posted on the party's Facebook page and the other on WhatsApp group -- creating confusion among its members.
Hakim, the state's housing and transport minister, clarified that the list bearing TMC state president Subrata Bakshi's signature was the final one. He claimed that a soft copy of a draft list was shared on the WhatsApp by an unauthorised person. The BJP, trying to fish in the troubled waters, alleged that the ruling party in Bengal has no ideology and its members no integrity.
Dilip Ghosh, the national vice-president of the saffron party, said, "In a party like the TMC, it is a fight to get the spoils...the power to loot public money. Unlike the BJP, the TMC has no ideology and its cadres no integrity." Hitting back, Hakim said, the BJP need not be bothered.
"The saffron party should rather focus on all that have been going in its camp," the minister added. In a set of guidelines, the TMC has asked its activists to follow the decision of the top brass, and ensure that the opposition does not get an opportunity to level any allegation.
