Fissures within the ruling TMC in Bengal seem to be widening as another MLA on Sunday took a jibe at the party top brass over its style of functioning, a day after senior leader Partha Chatterjee asked members to stop voicing grievances in public and communicate with the disciplinary committee if there was an issue.
Madan Mitra, the party’s Kamarhati legislator, sought to know where exactly does the disciplinary committee operate from, as the party’s Harish Chatterjee street office here at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence was "off limits" owing to the security protocol and its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was busy with "all-India activities".
A war of words had broken out between TMC MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay and party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh on Saturday over Abhishek Banerjee’s recent remark advocating suspension of political and religious gatherings for two months in the wake of the rising Covid-19 cases. Bandopadhyay said that the Diamond Harbour MP should not have aired personal views, to which Ghosh came out in support of the party’s national general secretary, leading to a heated exchange between the two.
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Chatterjee, the party's parliamentary affairs minister, warned its members against washing dirty linen in public, and said issues, if any, should be directed to the disciplinary committee of the party. Mitra, taking a dig at Chatterjee on Sunday, said, "Earlier, the party office was at Harish Chatterjee Street. But we cannot go there now due to the security layers outside the residence of chief minister. Abhishek Banerjee is busy with all-India activities of the party. I don't have access there. Our Topsia office is usually empty. Where is the disciplinary committee operating from?
"If Abhishek Banerjee doesn't grant audience, I will hand over a note containing my views to the security personnel manning his entrance," Mitra, popular on social media for his quirky songs and videos, said tongue in cheek. The state parliamentary affairs minister, when asked about his reaction to Mitra’s comment, said he would not want to discuss "internal matters" with mediapersons.
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