Amid infighting, Mamata reappoints nephew Abhishek Banerjee as TMC national general secretary
The party supremo also appointed members of the old guard such as Chandrima Bhattacharya as a vice-president, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy as the national spokesperson and Aroop Biswas as the treasurer
3 min read
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee with reappointed party national general secretary and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. (PTI, File)TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday reinstated her nephew Abhishek Banerjee as the party’s national general secretary and chose senior loyalists as office bearers in the newly formed national working committee.
The appointments were announced in the first meeting of the national working committee, formed on February 12 after dissolving all party posts except that of chairperson held by Mamata.
However, two party MPs Saugata Roy and Kalyan Banerjee were not given any portfolios. While Saugata backed Abhishek on the “one-person, one-post” issue, Kalyan criticised him for his ‘Diamond Harbour Covid model’ aimed to drastically reduce the Covid infection rate and increase testing. Kalayan was also removed from the party panel of spokespersons.
In over an hour-long meeting chaired by Mamata, secretary general of TMC’s West Bengal unit Partha Chatterjee said Yashwant Sinha, Subrata Bakshi and Chandrima Bhattacharya have been selected as party vice-presidents.
Aroop Biswas will be the new treasurer while Kolkata Mayor and minister Firhad Hakim will work as a co-ordinator between Mamata and the working committee.
Rajya Sabha chief whip Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar have been chosen as party spokespersons for the Upper and Lower House, respectively.
Partha said, “Yashwant Sinha, Amit Mitra and some other leaders will formulate our external affairs and economic policy. The north-east unit will be looked after by Sushmita Dev, Mukul Sangma and Subal Bhowmik.” The Goa unit will be helmed by former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro.
Earlier this month, Mamata had dissolved all party posts and formed a 20-member working committee after fissures in the party surfaced.
A senior party leader, who attended the meeting, said: “Banerjee has struck a balancing act between the new and old generation. She has failed to allot a proper post to Firhad Hakim. So, she gave him as the coordination responsibility, which is ceremonial.”
On I-PAC, another TMC leader said Mamata will soon take a final call on its role in party affairs. “Senior leaders of the West Bengal unit unanimously opposed renewing the services of political strategists, such as I-PAC. A decision on barring I-PAC from day-to-day functioning of the party was almost taken. But, the final call will be taken by our chairperson,” said another TMC leader.
You May Like
