It’s an open question what shape the Opposition will take in 2024 for fighting the BJP and its allies, as of now the situation is totally fluid, senior Trinamool leader and MP Saugata Roy has said. The reason why Trinamool has started branching out on its own is because the Congress, after having been approached by Mamata Banerejee, did nothing, he added.
Saugata, a veteran politician from Bengal, is known for taking clear and critical stands. He has been vocal about fixing an upper-age limit for leaders holding party’s posts, and his support for ‘one-person one-post’ has not gone down well with a section of the party’s leadership. The newly-formed national working committee of the party does not include him.
“Situation is totally fluid at the moment. Lok Sabha elections are two years away… What shape ultimately the Opposition unit will take, is an open question at the moment,” Saugata said.
When asked what prompted Trinamool to explore beyond the state, Saugata said that after the state Assembly elections last year, Mamata met Sonia Gandhi and asked her to take the initiative of grouping parties in the Opposition. “For six to seven months Congress did nothing. So TMC started branching out on its own in the states possible,” he said.
Prior to the dissolution of the working committee by Mamata Banerjee, party’s youth supporters clamoured for ‘one-person, one-post’, an idea propagated by Abhishek Banerjee, party’s re-appointed national general secretary, and Mamata’s nephew.
“These (issues) have not been resolved,” Saugata said. Asked about the claims that the party has two ‘power centres’ (Mamata, Abhishek), Saugata said, “It seems to me that there is only one power centre around Mamata Banerjee. Abhishek seems to have taken a back seat for the moment, though he continues to be a very important leader of the party, very popular.”
On being left out of the party’s working committee, the MP said that Mamata is the party’s chairperson. “If you say we have full confidence in Mamata Banerjee’s leadership, you should leave it to her to form a committee she desires… I am a member of Lok Sabha that gives me enough work to look after the constituency. I am quite happy, quite busy, and quite okay,” he said.
On the Prashant Kishore-led political advocacy group's "interaction and connection" with Trinamool, Saugata told DH, “I do not know the details of functioning between the two organisations." He added, “I am not aware of the finer details of the working arrangements between IPAC and TMC… In my own experience, they did a good job up to the Assembly.”
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