Even as some graft-tainted Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders have come under the scanner of probe agencies, many TMC posters have come up with its general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s photos, surprisingly minus the photo of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. This has raised a raging controversy and thrown up pertinent speculation: Is there a gradual shift at the party helm and is Abhishek set to be Mamata’s successor?
The posters with photographs of Abhishek, sporting a white kurta and a blue half-jacket giving a speech in public that were spotted at a few locations in South Kolkata, have come as a shock, especially to the opposition camp.
The party, founded in 1998, till now always had Mamata Banerjee’s photograph on every poster, unlike this time, and probably, the first time ever in TMC’s history.
The new and reformed Trinamool Congress will come into being in six months, the poster reads in Bengali. Moreover, similar posters with Abhishek’s photos were on display since Sunday which read, “Old is base, new is the future (Puratani Bhitti, Notuni Bhobisat)” in Bengali.
Talking to The New Indian, principal opposition of the state Dilip Ghosh, the national vice-president, BJP, said, “It is an endeavour to confuse people. What is this ‘old and new’ thing? Is this an attempt to save the family by pushing Abhishek Banerjee in front and thus, trying to wash hands of every taint and scam that the party is reeling under. Those who did these (wrong doings) for the party were portrayed bad.”
TMC MP Dr Shantanu Sen stated that “there is one and only one supremo that is Mamata Banerjee”. Sen added, “I do not know who displayed these posters but there is no confusion at all. Trinamool Congress is one of the most disciplined political parties now in the country. In our party, there is one and only one supremo that is Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee is our All-India general secretary, who with the blessings of Mamata Banerjee, is trying to spread our party across the country, and he has been doing his best. Even Abhishek Banerjee, on several occasions, has stated that in our party, there is only one leader that is Mamata Banerjee.”
“Who are these oppositions? If it’s CPM, they have been rejected outright by the people of West Bengal. If it is Congress, they have also been rejected by the masses. If it is BJP, they are losing political ground in Bengal every day. Moreover, they are divided among themselves,” Sen added.
It is to be kept in mind that TMC, after its win in Assembly poll last year, is trying every way to make an effort to wrestle power in the upcoming Panchayat election while setting its eyes on the 2024 General assembly poll.