In what seemed unusual, Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s elected representatives from North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts attended an administrative meeting in Kalyani in Nadira district chaired by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday. The meeting was to review development and welfare work in these districts. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s presence raised speculations of a party switch, though Dastidar said an administrative meeting was for all and not party-specific. “It is not a party programme. It is an administrative meeting and administration belongs to everyone,” said Dastidar.
Adhikari said he asked the government to invite representatives from opposition parties as they seemed keen to express their views.
“I told the government to call them, they surely want to cooperate. They spoke, cooperated. They shook hands and said this is the first time a good meeting was held. She said she was called for many meetings but not allowed to speak,” said CM Adhikari.
On Sunday, Dastidar quit as Barasat organisational district president, taking moral responsibility for the party’s downfall in the area in the recently concluded assembly elections. Dastidar is a four-time MP from Barasat constituency, which is in North 24 Parganas district. A few days ago, Dastidar was removed as TMC chief whip in the Lok Sabha with Kalyan Banerjee replacing her.
Other TMC leaders who attended the meeting were Dedanga MLA Anisur Rahaman, Searupnagar MLA Bina Mondol and Haroa MLA Abdul Matin. The presence of TMC leaders in a BJP government-led administrative meeting comes at a time when former chief minister Mamata Banerjee is fighting hard to keep her party together with several leaders speaking out against the party and others quitting as councillors across the state.
Dastidar is one of Mamata’s oldest associates. She resigned from post of Barasat district president on Sunday. Her letter to state TMC president Subrata Bakshi mentioned that difficult work cannot be accomplished by fly-by-night agencies, indirectly hinting at the political advocacy wing, Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), also speaking later at a press conference.
“My appeal to leader Mamata Banerjee is that if you work with the dedicated, old workers, just like in the past, it will write in the party’s image,” said Dastidar in her letter while also pointing out the crime and corruption in the state raises questions in the minds of the general public. “To strengthen democracy further, greater importance must be given to transparency, accountability, commitment, decorum, and responsibility towards the people, along with core values,” added Dastidar.
Dastidar has been with TMC since its inception in 1998 by its supremo Mamata Banerjee and was considered a core member of the old guard.
