On December 23, two days after the publication of a news item on an online media platform speaking of a rift between Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee and her political advisor, Prashant Kishor, the mentor of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), the party took to Twitter to rubbish such claims.
바카라There is absolutely NO MERIT in the hugely speculative & unsubstantiated reporting regarding the difference of opinion or working relationship between TMC and @IndianPAC. Under the leadership of @MamataOfficial, we work as one team and will continue to collaborate in the future,바카라 the TMC wrote in a tweet.
On February 7, after the state바카라s leading Bengali newspaper reported a possible abrupt end to the TMC바카라s agreement with the I-PAC and a direct confrontation between Banerjee and Kishor, the TMC leadership only gave evasive replies.
Banerjee, responding to the journalists바카라 questions before taking a flight to Lucknow to campaign for Samajwadi Party, said, 바카라Don바카라t ask me such questions. You can ask me about my party's internal affairs. But this is not the party바카라s affair.바카라
The party바카라s secretary-general, Partha Chatterjee, said, 바카라People who keep in touch with I-PAC can answer. I do not deal with I-PAC. I don바카라t even know if or from when the party바카라s relation soured with Prashant Kishor and when it was good either.바카라
The evasive replies implicated the party바카라s discomfort in responding to the party바카라s relations with the strategic support providing the organisation with which the party had an agreement for Goa, Meghalaya and Tripura till 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the in West Bengal till 2026 assembly elections.
바카라Daal mein kuch kala hai,바카라 said a senior TMC MP, who did not want to be identified.
Party sources hinted that a party was going through a state of discomfort over the way Banerjee바카라s nephew and political heir Abhishek Banerjee was using I-PAC to reform the party organisation from the grassroots level, an initiative that had frightened a section of senior leaders. They were scared Abhishek was trying to take over control of all district units.
Meanwhile, the fiasco over the publication of candidate lists on February 4 for the municipal elections due in 108 civic bodies complicated the matters. In the evening, the party바카라s senior leadership, including Partha Chatterjee, released the list of about 3,000-odd candidates. For obvious reasons, the names were not readout. The list was soon uploaded on the party바카라s social media handles and it triggered a wave of protests across the districts.
The party, in a hurried response, announced that a wrong list had been uploaded. 바카라The list uploaded does not have the signatures of Subrata Bakshi and myself. It바카라s not the correct list. The correct list, which contains the signatures of Bakshi and myself, is being sent to the district offices,바카라 Chatterjee said.
According to a senior leader of the party, Chatterjee and Kishore had 바카라a heated exchange of words. However, this claim could not be confirmed.
The next day, elaborating on the issues, Kolkata mayor urban development minister Firhad Hakim said, 바카라The password was misused to upload the list.바카라
As it almost directly hinted at the I-PAC, which is known to manage the party바카라s social media accounts, employees of the organisation rang up journalists and denied the charge. 바카라I-PAC is not involved in the municipal elections,바카라 they told journalists, though refusing to go on record.
On Monday, after reports of an 바카라unbridgeable gap바카라 between the TMC supremo and the political strategist came to the fore, the BJP바카라s national IT cell head and Bengal co-in-charge Amit Malviya wrote on Twitter: 바카라Mamata Banerjee has stepped in to sever ties with I-PAC in Bengal and other states, where it was helping the TMC. I-PAC was Abhishek Banerjee바카라s brainchild and initiative to reinvent and expand the TMC. This is another Mamata move to cut down her ambitious nephew. The feud grows.바카라
Senior TMC leaders whom Outlook contacted refused to comment on Malviya's tweet. 바카라Mamata Banerjee has always been the only leader in the party and she continues to be so. Rest are irrelevant,바카라 said the leader, on the condition of anonymity.
In a significant move, the party on Monday announced the party바카라s in-charge for districts for the civic polls and they are all old guards of the party.
Could this also mean a rift between Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek? Senior TMC leaders who Outlook spoke to sounded divided, some ruling out the possibility, others keeping their answers open-ended.
