But this is not the first time that Banerjee, who apart from flagging the need for ‘one person one post’ in the party, raised the issue as he did so during the 2021 Assembly elections as well as ahead of the local bodies and panchayat polls in West Bengal.
Sources in the TMC say that Banerjee, MP from the state’s Diamond Harbour parliamentary constituency, is keen on dropping some senior leaders like Sougata Roy, Sudip Banerjee and Mala Roy among others from the candidate list for the Lok Sabha polls.
But during a party programme at Kolkata’s Netaji Indoor Stadium on November 23, party supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that due importance must be given to party seniors and assured that Sougata Roy will be the party candidate from his constituency Dumdum this time again.
Thereafter, the party’s state general secretary Kunal Ghosh, who is considered close to Abhishek Banerjee, had said, “What our party supremo said was right. Seniors must be given adequate respect. But it doesn’t mean they will continue to occupy posts and juniors will keep on struggling for years.”
Ghosh’s remark came soon after a debate kicked off as Abhishek Banerjee’s photograph was not used at the Netaji Indoor programme where Sougata Roy was present.
Ghosh had said, “Sougata da did not join the TMC when it was formed. At one time, he even contested against Mamata Banerjee.”
Later, Abhishek, 36, endorsed Ghosh’s view, saying there should be a maximum age limit in all fields, including politics. While veteran leaders were required in every political party due to their experience, their productivity falls with age, he maintained.
Before the 2021 Assembly elections, Abhishek had first raised the demand for fixing the upper-age limit for candidates within the party, claiming that those holding a party post would not get a ticket. However, the policy was never implemented by CM Banerjee. She even fielded many senior leaders in the 2021 polls even after Abhishek opposed their candidature.
The debate came to the fore once again on January 1 (Monday), the TMC’s foundation day, when Subrata Bakshi and sSudip Banerjee again batted for the old guard.
Reacting to the remarks, Ghosh said, “Sudip Banerjee has seen the leadership of Abhishek Banerjee during the recent agitation in Delhi. All these statements are creating divisions within the party. We want our seniors to stay on the top, but we also need people from the new generation.”
He added, “Some senior ministers of our party never opposed the likes of Suvendu Adhikari who keep attacking us by calling us thieves. Our senior leaders and ministers are with Mamata Banerjee.”
A senior TMC leader said, “We do not think there are issues between Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek. We are sure that our top leaders will come up with a solution while finalising the candidate list. But such a debate shouldn’t crop up in the first place.”
TMC leader Tapas Roy said, “Mamata Banerjee is the founder of the TMC. She is the face of the party. All senior and junior leaders joined the party because of her. In today’s context, Abhishek Banerjee’s leadership is inevitable. We will see how we will fight against the BJP under Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek.”
CPIM leader Sujan Chakraborty said, “This shows how the TMC is weak ethically. This party has no ethics or ideology. While their senior leaders looted people’s money, now the junior ones are trying to do the same.”
Congress state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “When Khokababu (Abhishek Banerjee) went to the ED office in New Delhi, he started criticising the Congress. We will not be surprised if he is projected as the BJP’s CM face.”