Mamata Banerjee must be spending sleepless nights these days because of rebellion in her party. Her one-time confidante Kalyan Banerjee gave her an ultimatum to choose between him or her nephew Abhishek. In other words, Kalyan Banerjee threatened to quit.
Another veteran Trinamool MP Saugata Roy said, it has now become difficult for him to either meet or speak to Mamata nowadays.
In Bengal, commoners continue to throw eggs at local TMC leaders, crores of rupees were seized from a TMC leader’s school, and Falta strongman Jahangir Khan was paraded by police in his hometown. Images that are coming from Bengal are sure to shock Mamata Banerjee.
It has now become a proven fact that charges of intimidation, extortion through ‘tolabazi tax’ or ‘cut money’ that were being levelled against TMC leaders were not baseless.
More and more facts are now tumbling out. Along with this, people are expressing their anger at TMC leaders.
How did this situation come to pass? Why did Mamata Banerjee allow her leaders to commit such excesses?
When these questions are posed to TMC leaders, most of them unanimously mention the name of her nephew Abhishek. They say, the party machinery was under his control, his word was law and he was arrogant.
With the party in shambles after the disastrous assembly election defeat, with 64 out of 80 elected MLAs and 19 Lok Sabha MPs deserting Mamata’s camp, almost every dissident is holding Abhishek responsible for this disastrous situation.
Not a single person among them has blamed Mamata till now. These rebels openly allege that it was Abhishek who was nurturing his army of hooligans and sold tickets during elections, but nobody had the courage to speak out because of fear.
Anyone raising objections in party meetings was shown the door. Anybody who spoke out in the open, found false cases registered.
This atmosphere of fear is no more. The party that was painstakingly built by Mamata since she left Congress in 1998, now lies in ruins, but Abhishek’s arrogance remains.
One question continues to be a puzzle. Why is the aunt doting so much on her nephew?
What is the mystery behind Mamata’s reluctance to sideline her nephew in spite of her party disintegrating before her own eyes?
Rajasthan: Will Sachin get a chance to pilot Congress?
Rajasthan Congress leaders Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot were involved in a wordy duel on Thursday through the media.
Gehlot said, it was Sachin who tried to topple his government in 2020 revolting against the party high command, while he (Gehlot) held the party flag steadfastly.
The former chief minister said, Sachin is ” like my son and I want him to march ahead, but he has much to learn in politics”.
Sachin Pilot responded by saying, “Gehlot Ji is a senior leader, it is good that he described me like his son, but is that all? … Gehlot Ji should forget personal enmity and display large heartedness in the interest of the party”.
Gehlot again responded saying, “it was not my intention to belittle him (Pilot), I only wanted to tell the truth, I have achieved my aim and the matter is now closed”.
Gehlot and Pilot have an old record of political rivalry.
In 2022, the Congress high command decided to install Sachin Pilot as Chief Minister and bring Ashok Gehlot to the Centre as Congress President.
At the last moment, Gehlot’s loyalist MLAs did not attend the Congress Legislative Party meeting that was supposed to elect Pilot as leader. The plan failed.
Gehlot now clarifies that he was not behind this plot. He says, many of the MLAs were not in favour of Pilot.
It is an open secret that those who stayed away from the meeting were Gehlot loyalists.
This issue has arisen again because the Congress high command is inclined to hand over the reins of the state party unit to Sachin Pilot.
Naturally, Gehlot’s camp is in a tizzy. His supporters still say, many local leaders do not like Sachin.
It is also a fact that as state party president from 2014 till 2020, Sachin Pilot energized the party unit.
Sachin’s father the late Rajesh Pilot was an experienced Congress leader of his time. Sachin inherits many of his qualities of leadership. Sachin can prove to be a good leader for Rajasthan.