Knives out in TMC: Leaders, MLAs call out factionalism, Mamata’s bid to not quit

“Lobbies, lobbies and lobbies. The party is infected with lobby and factionalism,” said TMC MLA Niamot Sheikh, who won from Hariharpara in Murshidabad district.

Sheikh, who had attended Wednesday’s meeting of TMC Legislature Party meeting at party supremo Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence, said the leadership allowed factionalism in the party, which ultimately led to the defeat.

“There are so many factions of the party in Murshidabad itself. I have repeatedly warned the party higher-ups regarding this. I was ignored. They thought it was better not to pay heed to me. The top leadership thought that more the factions, more the competition and better the position. If one raised questions, they would back the other lobby. It is a fact that when one becomes the party’s candidate in the polls, the other lobbies will not work for him,” Sheikh told The Indian Express over the phone without naming anyone in particular.

“Then there was technology,” Sheikh said, adding that party leadership placed a lot of emphasis on technology like social media campaigns etc. “They undermined the human factor,” he added.

Sheikh, who defeated Humayun Kabir’s nominee by over 12,000 votes, said suspending him just before the elections was not a wise call.

Kabir was suspended from TMC after he went ahead with his plan to build a Babri-like mosque in Murshidabad district. Kabir formed the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AUJP), and went on to win two seats from where he contested.

“I don’t know whose lobby brainwashed our supreme leader (Mamata Banerjee) against Humayun Kabir. They brainwashed her against Humayun and he got suspended. Humayun did what he could, and floated a new party. In Murshidabad, like in other areas, Muslim vote got divided,” he added.

Akhruzzaman, the TMC MLA from Raghunathganj in Murshidabad district, also blamed the division in Muslim votes behind the party’s defeat in the minority-dominated areas.

“Muslims voted for everyone else but the TMC and BJP. We used to get all the Muslims votes. The votes were divided. I know the reasons but I cannot tell you,” said Akhruzzaman, who defeated Congress candidate Nasir Saikh by over 40,000 votes.

Another TMC MLA from Murshidabad district, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, “Our Muslim vote bank cracked, while the Hindu votes consolidated towards the BJP”, adding that the party has changed a lot in the past few years. “Our voices never reached the top. The party was dependent on a professional agency (I-PAC) which acted as middlemen,” the leader said, disagreeing with Mamata’s decision to not accept the defeat and refusing to resign as the chief minister.

“I believe we should accept defeat, and start rebuilding the party. Not accepting defeat is further tarnishing our image among the people,” the TMC MLA said.

TMC MLA from Bagnan in Howrah district, Arunabha Sen, was also critical of Mamata’s decision to not resign.

The four-time MLA, Sen, said, “Mamata Banerjee is a big name. She can only say what decision she took and why. But as an insignificant MLA of the party, I can only say that had I been the chief minister, I would have resigned after such a defeat of the party in the election.”

“It is true that we faced hostility during counting. Even after that, I stayed at the counting centre. I have faith that people voted for me, and I will win,” said Sen, who defeated BJP’s Pramansu Rana by little over 11,000 votes.

TMC MLA from Sujapur in Malda district, Sabina Yasmin admitted organisational shortcomings, but refused to add more. “I have full faith and confidence in Mamata Banerjee. She is our leader… We do have some organisational shortcomings. We can’t deny it,” the former North Bengal Development Minister, who defeated the Congress nominee by over 60,000 votes, said.

Abdur Rahim Boxi, the TMC MLA from Malatipur in Malda, blamed the Election Commission’s contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls behind the party’s debacle in the poll. “We are yet to sit and think about what went wrong. I am only concerned with Malda. The SIR and then Central forces drove fear in people’s minds, I think. However, we will shortly sit and evaluate what went wrong,” he said. Boxi defeated Congress nominee and former TMC MP Mausam Noor by close to 60,000 votes.

Echoing Boxi, TMC MLA from Entally in Kolkata, Sandipan Saha said the party will look into the reasons for its defeat.

Deputy Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Atin Ghosh, who lost from Kashipur-Belgachia Assembly constituency cited “three main reasons” for the defeat. “One is religious polarisation. Hindus voted for the BJP. Second is the deletion of voters’ names in the SIR, and third, the huge anti-incumbency we faced across the state,” said Ghosh, who lost to BJP’s Ritesh Tiwari by just over one thousand votes.

Veteran TMC leader Madan Mitra, who once again got elected from Kamarhati in North 24 Parganas, said, “What is the cause of this defeat, that our leaders will introspect.”

On Mamata refusing to resign as CM, he said it was “a unanimous decision of the party MLAs”. “It is not her decision. Party’s elected MLAs took this decision unanimously,” he added.

On Friday, the TMC issued show-cause notices to five of its spokespersons for allegedly making anti-party comments following its defeat in the elections.

According to a PTI report, the notices were served to Riju Dutta, Krishnendu Chowdhury, Kohinoor Majumdar, Papiya Ghosh and Kartik Ghosh. They were asked why disciplinary action should not be taken against them for “violating party discipline.”

TMC spokesperson Kohinoor Majumdar had told the media, “Party leaders had to wait for hours to meet the TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.” TMC leader from Malda, Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, also criticised Abhishek’s way of functioning.

Similarly, Papiya Ghosh and Kartik Ghosh also spoke out against the party leadership.

Ghosh is the daughter of senior Cooch Behar TMC leader Rabindranath Ghosh, who too criticised Abhishek publicly, although no show-cause notice has been issued to him so far.

TMC spokesperson Riju Dutta had praised the BJP’s measures to curb post-poll violence in a social media post.

Actor Dev, who won from Ghatal in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and actively campaigned in this Assembly election, told mediapersons that he refused to “speak lies” about Ghatal masterplan. Referring to his 2024 speech in Parliament that led to speculation of his political future, the actor-politician said that he was falsely promised by Mamata and Abhishek that the long-delayed Ghatal masterplan, the project to mitigate flooding issue in Purba and Paschim Medinipur districts, would be fast-tracked.

Former cricketer Manoj Tiwary, in a Facebook Live, just two days after BJP’s victory, accused Mamata and former sports minister Aroop Biswas of sidelining him in the government. “I approached the chief minister (Mamata Banerjee) on numerous occasions… She consistently refused to grant me an audience. When I finally managed to approach her, Mamata Banerjee retorted, ‘Do I have nothing better to do?’ She simply told me to talk to Aroop Biswas,” Tiwary alleged.

Congratulating the BJP for its “massive win”, he said he was “relieved by TMC’s exit”.