A Year Before Polls, Is Trinamool Today A Divided House?
In what is being seen as an embarrassment for the Trinamool Congress (TMC), a heated exchange between TMC MPs Kalyan Banerjee, Kirti Azad and another MP has become the center of a political storm. Tensions flared amongst at least three TMC MPs outside the Election Commission of India (ECI) office on April 4, and the disagreement quickly escalated to shouting and even calls for BSF intervention. It is not just loose cannons in any party, but how these leaders conduct themselves in public. The fight spiralled to social media, and the chats between the MPs have been leaked now. BJP's West Bengal in charge Amit Malviya, who released these videos on social media, has snarkily remarked that this is what legends are made of, while the TMC has admitted that this shouldn't have happened. Now this comes at a politically critical time. A three-term Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, who is credited for taking on not just the left but also the BJP, faces elections next year, at a time when her nephew Abhishek Banerjee seems to be playing a much less dominant role in party affairs. Is the TMC today a divided house? A year before the polls, political fissures within the TMC are playing out in the open now?
