Abhishek Banerjee is the nephew of TMC boss and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
Claiming that the BJP would seize to exist in Bengal if the TMC "opens its doors", the national general secretary of Bengal's ruling party, Abhishek Banerjee, asserted on Monday that "backstabbers and fence-sitters" would not be allowed to join the camp.
Amid the perceived power struggle over the number two spot in the ruling party, Mr Banerjee, who is also the nephew of TMC boss and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said it is the "cadres" who hold the second position.
The Diamond Harbour MP also clarified the "old-timers who had for years toiled hard for the party are its real assets, and new entrants won't be preferred to them".
"If I reveal the names of those who are in touch with us, all of you will be astonished. If we open our doors, the BJP will cease to exist in Bengal. We have kept our doors closed, and we will not open it for backstabbers and fence-sitters," Mr Banerjee said at a rally in Shyamnagar area of Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat, whose MP Arjun Singh quit the saffron camp to return to the TMC last week.
Mr Singh returned as he understood that "BJP's rise in Bengal is equivalent to inviting danger" to the state.
"Many leaders have left the TMC before assembly polls, thinking that the BJP would come to power. Several ‘Mir Jafars' (the general who betrayed Nawab Siraj ud Daulah at the Battle of Plassey) and Gaddars (traitors) are knocking at our doors, but they won't be allowed inside," he said.
In an apparent reference to the internal controversy over who held the number two spot in the party after Mamata Banerjee, he said it is the workers who were the "real treasure" of the party.
"In Trinamool Congress, the Mamata Banerjee is number 1, and the number 2 in our party is our cadres. They are our real treasure. We are all soldiers of Mamata Banerjee. We have to ensure that the BJP doesn't win even a single seat in West Bengal in the next Lok Sabha polls," he said.
The BJP, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, had won 18 out of the 42 seats in the state.
Earlier this month, while celebrating the first anniversary of the party's third term, some of the leaders, considered to be close to Abhishek Banerjee, had made social media posts pitching him as the heir apparent of the chief minister.
Responding to Mr Banerjee's remarks, BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya maintained that the TMC would "disintegrate" before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls due to internal bickering.
"Those leaving the party hardly matter. Our workers are our strength," he added.
The state unit of the BJP had been fighting hard to keep its flock together since former union minister Babul Supriyo and five legislators, including its national vice president Mukul Roy, switched over to the TMC, following the declaration of assembly poll results last year.