New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday said those activists who are fighting the upcoming West Bengal panchayat elections as independents after being denied tickets will not be taken back into the party fold, news agency PTI reported. The ruling party’s warning comes after Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with senior leaders at her residence in south Kolkata on Saturday.
"We would request party activists, who are fighting as independents, to withdraw their candidature and support the party's official candidates. It is a big fight. The entire party should stand united," PTI quoted TMC MP and senior leader Kalyan Banerjee as saying.
He further said that those who are contesting as independents are "working against the interest of the party" and they would never be "readmitted into the TMC". "There are a few people who are fighting as independents. They are traitors and have no place in the party," he said.
Talking about the deployment of central armed forces ahead of the polls, Kalyan Banerjee said the party is not bothered about that "as the party is confident of victory". "Central forces were deployed in the 2013 panchayat polls, and the 2016 and 2021 assembly elections but the TMC had scored a massive victory," he said.
It is to be noted that on Friday, during the conclusion of a two-month-long party’s mass outreach campaign in South 24 Parganas, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee cautioned activists, fighting as independents after being denied tickets.
Meanwhile, a clash broke out between TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during scrutiny of nominations papers for the panchayat elections in Cooch Behar district, PTI reported. According to the report, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nisith Pramanik was also allegedly attacked.
Notably, a significant electorate of approximately 5.67 crores will exercise their franchise to choose representatives for nearly 74,000 seats in zilla parishads, panchayat samiti and gram panchayats on July 8.