Political speculation has started once again inside the ruling party. Trinamool Congress Party youth leader and spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya’s Facebook post on Thursday evening advocating deployment of central paramilitary forces for Saturday’s civilian elections was deemed out of sync with the party’s official position. Was.
Debangshu, who coined played hobe Slogged for the party ahead of the 2021 state elections and has close to 2,500 followers on the social interactive site, made a strong case for the deployment of central forces in the Bidhannagar municipal elections, and if necessary, doubling their deployment compared to the state elections. done. He also demanded that the police should be given “100 per cent free hand” to maintain law and order to ensure free and fair elections on Saturday.
The post was imposed on the day Trinamool was declared unopposed winner in Sainthia, Budge Budge, Dinhata and Suri municipalities during the nomination phase itself, for which elections are to be held on February 27, which is crucial.
While the TMC and the Bengal government have consistently opposed the deployment of central forces in all elections held in the state in recent days, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday, in response to a petition, left the matter to be decided by the state elections. Directed the Commission and the body to finalize the deployment in consultation with the State Government within 12 hours of the passing of the order.
Though the commission has refrained from officially stating its position after that meeting, sources told News18 that law and order will be handled by the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate under the supervision of an IG-rank officer.
Various complaints of violence, intimidation and electoral malpractice were filed by opposition parties against the ruling party in the recently concluded Kolkata municipal elections, where the Trinamool Congress won 134 out of 144 wards.
In his post, Bhattacharya said it was a “repetition of 2018” (reportedly referring to the experience of panchayat elections in Bengal, where there were allegations of coercive use of the ruling party by opposition parties across the board and where the TMC has taken a stand. won a third of the seats. Unopposed) “will lead to another 2019” (presumably referring to the voter’s response a year later, which led to the BJP making significant inroads into the state in the Lok Sabha elections, where it won 18 of 42 seats) had won), he said, “will only be a matter of time”.
He further said that “2021” (the TMC’s decisive victory in the state elections last year) “cannot be repeated every time”.
Significantly, Bhattacharya also joined the bandwagon of a section of youth leaders in the party, who on Thursday evening changed their social media cover photos and put up the poster ‘I Support #OnePersonOnePost in AITC’.
That move was opposed on Friday by Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim as “not the official position of the party”. Hakim, who is also a minister in Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet, is among the exceptions to the policy, which the party advocated after the 2021 state elections.
The fracture, which is now evident on the surface and in the public domain, appears to have irked party supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has called an urgent meeting of Trinamool leaders at her Kalighat residence on Saturday, reportedly over the issue. To address and stop this trend. Spiral out of control.
The party’s All India General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee has advocated postponing of the civic polls amid the rapidly deteriorating COVID situation in the state, which was publicly countered by senior party leader Kalyan Banerjee and the recent list of several candidates and The widespread public display of discontent had begun with embarrassment. There has been a boil over the distribution of tickets for the municipal elections. battle of generations Which is getting difficult for Mamta Banerjee to control.
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