The Trinamul Congress leadership has started back-channel talks with some of its sidelined leaders in the wake of the party’s debacle in the general election.
On Monday, Trinamul’s Birbhum district chief Anubrata Mondal met Sheikh Kajal, known for his Opposition to the former, after a five-year hiatus and appointed him as the party’s Nanoor block working president.
On Sunday, urban development minister and Calcutta mayor Firhad Hakim called on former minister and mayor Sovan Chatterjee, asking him to return to the mainstream of the Trinamul leadership.
Sources in the ruling party said Kajal and Chatterjee were just two of several leaders whom the party wanted to reach out to. It was decided at a meeting convened by Mamata Banerjee that all “useful but inert” sections of the leadership must be back in Trinamul to strengthen the party before the Assembly polls.
Mondal told Kajal to work on strengthening the party’s organisation in Nanoor, where Trinamul fared poorly despite winning the Bolpur seat.
“The party’s growth started from Nanoor in 2000 following the killing of 10 landless farmers by the CPM. Then in the Opposition, Mamata Banerjee visited the area several times. The Nanoor Assembly seat was lost to the CPM in 2016 because Anubrata and Kajal were busy fighting each other. In the past three years, the BJP made inroads there,” said a senior Trinamul leader in Birbhum.
After his closed-door meeting with Mondal, Kajal was asked about his elevation. “It was an internal meeting…. I was, am, and will always be with the party,” he said.
Mondal did not comment on the meeting.
In Calcutta, Hakim admitted to having called Chatterjee, who had quit as the mayor and a minister in November last year and has been staying away from all party meetings. There has been speculation on the possibility of his joining the BJP.
“I did call on Sovan. He is my friend, I met him,” said Hakim.
“There is an attempt to wipe out the culture of Bengal. We will have to organise a Bangla Bachao (Save Bengal) movement,” said Hakim.
