Trinamul Congress Birbhum president Anubrata Mondal on Friday removed the party’s unit chief in Kusumba, the home of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s maternal uncle, after he failed to convince Mondal that the BJP’s lead from the gram panchayat area in the general election earlier this month was not his fault.

Trinamul insiders said that in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP secured a lead of 13,125 votes from the Rampurhat Assembly segment, to which the Kusumba gram panchayat area contributed a lead of 3,069 votes.

When Mondal asked at a meeting how the party had fared in the Assembly elections in 2016, Kusumba leader Bipadtaran Saha said Trinamul had a lead of 3,638 votes then, which fell to a deficit of 3,069 votes this summer — a slump of 6,707 votes.

Saha attributed the turn of events to failure to anticipate a shift of Left votes to the BJP, which is suspected to have happened across Bengal. An unconvinced Mondal ordered his immediate removal.

It also emerged that in Saha’s booth area, the BJP led by 318 votes. Trinamul’s Satabdi Roy, however, won the Birbhum Lok Sabha seat.

Trinamul considers it “shameful” — and Mondal has taken it as a personal affront — as Kusumba has a special place in Mamata’s heart. The chief minister often recalls Kusumba fondly during her meetings in the district. She can specifically recall the names of ponds, roads, villagers and houses in the area. After becoming chief minister, Mamata has visited her maternal uncle’s home twice.

“Kusumba is not just another gram panchayat in Birbhum. It is our Didi’s maternal uncle’s residence; she spent most school vacations here. Kestoda (Mondal) was furious when he heard that the BJP got a lead from Kusumba,” said a senior Trinamul leader from the district.