IN BENGAL, RULING TMC SET TO PAY A HEAVY PRICE FOR INFIGHTING

‘The block and district leaders are at loggerheads with each other AND All BECAUSE of Cut money.’

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders are deeply worried about the deep-rooted factionalism that has taken hold of the party both at the district and booth levels, which could cost the party heavily in the coming Assembly elections, several TMC leaders told The Sunday Guardian.

TMC leaders have complained to both Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee,

who is looking after the party’s electoral strategy, that the factionalism is working against the party at the grassroots.

Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, a senior TMC leader said that they have given multiple reports to the highest authority about factionalism and how these elements are going to act against the party in the upcoming elections.

“Every district and block in the state is mired in factionalism. There are multiple people who have their own lobbies. They are working for the betterment of themselves and not of the party. We have raised this issue at the right places, but despite that little seems to have been done to contain it,” said the TMC leader.

The TMC leader also gave examples of how factionalism is deep-rooted within the party, “For example, the TMC chairmen of several municipalities are not in good terms with their MLAS, so they are lobbying against their respective MLAS, and have stopped all the work that the MLAS have been trying to do in their constituencies, in order to show them in a bad light. While the chairman wants his man to get a ticket from the party in the Assembly elections, the MLA is lobbying for himself for the party ticket. So if the chairman’s recommended person gets the ticket, the sitting MLA will ensure his loss, and vice versa. Look at what happened in Howrah district—it was a classic case of factionalism. The chairman and the MLAS were at loggerheads, which in turn cost the party its MLAS who went to the BJP,” the TMC leader said.

Another TMC leader from North 24 Parganas, while speaking to this newspaper echoed similar sentiments. “The block and district leaders are at loggerheads with each other and all because of cut money. They are fighting with each other because some people did not give them their share of cut money, while others are fighting for positions within the party or for the party’s ticket