Factional tussle in Cooch Behar TMC ahead of CM visit
The Statesman | 6 December 2025
A section of the Trinamul Congress leadership has begun preparations to welcome Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is tentatively scheduled to visit Cooch Behar on 9 December.
It may be noted that the Chief Minister has launched her campaign on the issue of voters’ rights and their protection amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. She visited Malda on 3 December and Berhampore in Murshidabad on 4 December.
Significantly, Ms Banerjee, who is the chairperson of Trinamul Congress, traditionally begins her political and election campaigns from Cooch Behar before covering other districts of north Bengal.
Former North Bengal Development minister Rabindranath Ghosh, presently Chairman of Cooch Behar Municipality, visited the Raas Mela Ground in Cooch Behar town on Friday with a team of party leaders. Mr Ghosh, also a former district TMC president, was accompanied by NBSTC chairman Partha Pratim Roy, former Cooch Behar MP and ex-district president. Notably, no administrative officials were present during their visit to the venue.
Factionalism within the district unit has once again come to the fore, following a series of verbal exchanges among senior leaders. Recently, district TMC president Abhijit De Sarkar was embroiled in a confrontation with Mr Ghosh, even demanding that he step down as municipality chairman.
Over the past few months, Mr Ghosh has been engaged in an open tussle with a section of party leaders, including Mr De Sarkar, North Bengal Development Minister Udayan Guha, and MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, over various organisational and political issues. The leaders have publicly criticised each other on several occasions.
Political observers have now raised questions over whether the Chief Minister will address her scheduled public meeting at the Raas Mela Ground or opt for other venues in the subdivisions.