TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee Meets Sonia Gandhi Amid Party Crisis

As the West Bengal CID Tuesday conducted searches at the Trinamool Congress’s central party office in Kolkata’s Kalighat and at the office of its national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Camac Street as part of its investigation into the alleged Assembly signature forgery case, party chief Mamata Banerjee met Congress Parliamentary chairperson Sonia Gandhi at the latter’s residence in Delhi. Sources in the TMC said Mamata’s meeting was to discuss coordination among the INDIA bloc parties. The meeting at Sonia’s 10, Janpath, residence in Delhi lasted an hour. “The meeting was about the INDIA bloc working together in unity,” said a senior party MP. “Sonia ji and our leader (Mamata) have a strong personal relationship that goes back decades. If they meet, it is natural. If Didi is in Delhi, she will meet allies and Sonia ji is the seniormost among Opposition leaders so she met her,” said another senior party MP, considered close to Mamata. In a statement, TMC leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien said: “Political vendetta shamelessly timed! Exactly at the same time as TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee was having a meeting today in Delhi with Mrs Sonia Gandhi , CID was forcefully trying to enter the AITC party headquarters adjoining residence in Kolkata . First loot vote, now loot files of a political rival. Democracy? Main entrance overloaded with CRPF.” Earlier in the day, the TMC said that it was not worried by the exits of its leaders and that while the BJP may have power and government, it has “Maa, Maati and Maanush” (mother, soil, people) by its side. The Mamata Banerjee-led party is facing a major crisis. A rebel group, led by senior Trinamool leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday, saying they want to join the NDA. This group claims it has the support of 20 Lok Sabha MPs, a claim the party leadership has contested, saying the rebels were 12 in number. This comes days after 60 of the party’s 80 MLAs rebelled and challenged Mamata Banerjee’s choice of Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as their leader in the Assembly. At a press conference in Delhi on Tuesday, Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee, who was accompanied by party colleague Kirti Azad, said, “We are not worried about who leaves. We need fresh blood, committed workers and leaders who stand by the party during difficult times. Our leader is Mamata Banerjee. Our symbol is the Trinamool Congress symbol. Our strength comes from our workers and the people of Bengal. You may have power, money, government machinery, agencies, vehicles, security and property. We have Maa, Maati and Maanush.” Kalyan Banerjee said the rebel MPs who went to Bhupender Yadav’s residence on Monday and held meetings with Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari have effectively become BJP. “Today, their leader is Narendra Modi. They may use different words, but the people of Bengal understand exactly what is happening,” he said. The Trinamool leader challenged rebel MPs to go to their constituencies and meet party workers who campaigned for them and stood by them during elections. “Let them face those workers and explain their actions,” Kalyan Banerjee said, adding these leaders won elections in the name of Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, and on the Trinamool Congress symbol. “If they had grievances against the leadership, why did they not raise them before the elections? Why did they campaign in the name of Mamata Banerjee and praise her development work before polling?” he said.