Mamata Rejigs TMC Working Panel, Nephew Abhishek No Longer National General Secretary

TMC emergency meeting: A committee of 20 members has been formed by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) party. Veteran leaders like Derek O'Brien and Sougata Ray have not been included.

New Delhi: Amid the municipal elections 2022 held at 4 places in West Bengal on Saturday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has dissolved all the posts which means Mamata's nephew Abhishek Banerjee is no longer General secretary.

In West Bengal, there was a detailed discussion on the internal battle going on inside the TMC today. CM Mamta Banerjee had called an emergency meeting. During the meeting, a committee of 20 members has been formed on behalf of the party. 

According to the news agency ANI, senior Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee told reporters, “Mamata Banerjee was re-elected as the Chairperson of the party recently where she announced a small committee to look after party affairs. Today (Saturday), a meeting of that committee was held where she announced our new national working committee”.

The National Working Committee is considered to be the biggest committee of the party where every decision is taken. This time a total of 20 people have been included in the committee. The party has made it clear that no new post has been given to any of these members. 

According to the list that has come out, Amit Mitra, Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Bakshi, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Bulichik Bariko, Chandrima Bhattacharjee, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Ashima Patra, Moloy Patra, Anubrata Mandal, Rajiv Tripathi, Gautam Deb were part of this committee.

Apart from these, Yashwant Sinha, who joined TMC some time back, has also been made a part of this committee. Notably, the veteran leaders like Derek O'Brien and Sougata Ray have not been included.

“Till our Chairperson does not announce the new list of office-bearers, all the other posts of the last committee cease to exist,” a senior Trinamool leader pointed out.

“The Chief Minister wants to control the party herself. A lot of versions were put forward by different leaders which were creating confusion among the people and the common workers of the party. In this situation, strong control over the party was essential,” a senior party leader said.

When asked whether this is an effort to clip Abhishek Banerjee’s wings, the leader said, “The Chief Minister wants to establish direct control because people only give votes in her name.”