Why Mamata Banerjee allowed old lieutenant Kalyan Banerjee to quit as Chief Whip amid his feud with Mahua Moitra
Mamata readily letting go of one of the party's old guard, while surprising to an extent, makes sense given that the TMC is months away from the West Bengal Assembly elections and needs a steady hand at the helm in Parliament, where the Opposition is looking to regroup and put forward a united front against the BJP over Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Given this, the feud between Kalyan, one of the CM's oldest party colleagues, and Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra had become a distraction for the party at such a crucial political juncture, and his inability to dial down the situation ultimately proved to be his undoing.
At a meeting on Monday, Mamata is said to have expressed her displeasure at the two, saying two to three MPs were bringing the party 'into disrepute'. However, the most stinging remarks were reserved for Kalyan, whom she blamed for not properly coordinating between MPs in the absence of veterans Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Saugata Roy.
This did not sit well with Kalyan who announced his resignation as Chief Whip after the meeting and took aim at the CM herself, telling a news channel he had done the job assigned and there was not much he could do when most of the MPs remained absent 'Does Mamata Banerjee know how the work in Parliament is going on?' he asked.
The party decided to ignore this and Abhishek even requested his senior colleague to lay low till he arrives in Delhi on August 7 for a dinner meeting of the INDIA alliance at Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi's home. The TMC number two requested Kalyan, with whom he has had differences in the past as he asserted his dominance in the party, to reconsider his decision. However, after Kalyan targeted Mahua again on Tuesday. Mamata and Abhishek were left with no choice but to accept the Serampore MP's resignation.
'Mamata Banerjee was not ready to accept Kalyan's resignation as he is one of her oldest lieutenants. But he continued his attacks on Mahua and 'Didi' even after Abhishek requested him to reconsider his decision. This forced her hand,' said a TMC leader.
A senior TMC MP said the CM wanted the feud between Mahua and Kalyan to end so that there would be no distractions before the parliamentary group as the party pursues its political agenda. At the dinner meeting at Gandhi's home, discussions are expected to be held on the INDIA bloc walking in lockstep to take on the BJP and the Narendra Modi government over electoral roll revision.
'Mamata Banerjee wants the parliamentary party to concentrate on the political agenda. Sudip Bandyopadhyay (who was earlier the Parliamentary Party leader) and Kalyan Banerjee are now out of the picture and (Dum Dum MP) Saugata Roy is unwell. So, we have to see how the new faces of the party handle such a crucial situation in Parliament,' said the senior MP.
Another TMC leader said that following the reshuffle, Abhishek, the Diamond Harbour MP, and his team are in charge of maintaining party discipline in Parliament. While Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who is close to both the CM and her nephew, has replaced Kalyan as Chief Whip, Birbhum MP Satabdi Roy is the Deputy Leader. The change appeared to have had an initial effect on Wednesday, with the TMC functionary saying that after a long time, 'we saw our MPs properly highlighting the Bengali issue in front of Parliament'. He was referring to the party's campaign against the alleged harassment of Bangla speakers in BJP-ruled states in the name of identifying undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh.
For everyone in the party, the burning question is whether this is enough to de-escalate the situation and bring the TMC parliamentary party back on track as it looks to coordinate with the rest of the Opposition on cornering the BJP in the House.
Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal.
Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur.
He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More
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