The top leadership of the Trinamool Congress has asked some prominent leaders in Nadia to work “sincerely” to ensure the victory of the party’s Ranaghat South byelection candidate Mukutmani Adhikari or “face the music”.

The bypoll comes close on the heels of the Lok Sabha polls in which Trinamool Congress candidate Mukutmani Adhikari lost the Ranaghat (SC) constituency to BJP’s Jagannath Sarkar by 1,86,899 votes.

Adhikari, who won the Ranaghat South Assembly seat on a BJP ticket in 2021, had stepped down as an MLA to contest the Lok Sabha polls recently on a TMC ticket. In the recent polls, Sarkar got a lead of around 35,000 votes from Ranaghat South, which is one of the seven Assembly segments of the Ranaghat (SC) Lok Sabha constituency.

“To wrest the Assembly seat from the BJP, the top leadership of Trinamool has pulled out all stops and made it clear to a few district leaders that the party will not tolerate any slackness in mobilising support for Adhikari. The leaders have been told that if anyone worked against the party’s interest, stern action would be taken against them,” said a senior TMC leader.

To manage the poll strategy, the TMC has appointed Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra as the new observer for the Ranaghat byelection. Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee will monitor the activities of the local leadership daily. A few other state committee leaders have been deputed to monitor the campaigning.

A senior TMC leader in Calcutta said: “The strategy adopted in Ranaghat would be replicated in other segments too, particularly for Bagda and Raiganj, where party candidates lost the Lok Sabha polls because of the slackness and disintegration of local leaders. The slackness will not be tolerated this time.”

Raising doubts about their sincere efforts in garnering support for Adhikari in the recently held Lok Sabha election, the top leadership has told these leaders to “act” unitedly leaving personal prejudices aside or face consequences.

“We have reports that some prominent leaders opposed to Mukutmani’s candidature had worked against the party’s interest in the Lok Sabha polls. The party has taken the matter seriously and cautioned them against repeating the act during the byelection,” a Trinamool leader said.

In Nadia, the performance of a former MLA, a zilla parishad member, a councillor, and at least two senior leaders of Ranaghat organisational district is being watched. The party has identified them for not working “sincerely” for the victory of Adhikari.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Adhikari expressed optimism about winning the byelection as “everyone” was giving their best, unlike what happened in the Lok Sabha poll.

“Everyone did not put their best foot forward during the Lok Sabha poll to ensure the party’s victory.... The situation has changed now. Everyone is working together under the direct monitoring of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee,” Adhikari added.