Infighting in Trinamool over candidate selection, Sayantika Banerjee resigns

Kolkata, March 11: Internal rumblings have started brewing in Trinamool Congress over the choice of candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls

The list was announced on Sunday afternoon. Hours after the announcement, party state general secretary and actress-turned-politician Sayantika Banerjee tendered her resignation from the party post.

Party insiders said that in the resignation forwarded to the Trinamool Congress state president in West Bengal Subrata Bakshi, she has said that she has resigned from the post for personal reasons.

Sources within the party close to her said that in her resignation letter, Banerjee has detailed on how she had worked according to the party lines and attended the party programmes regularly for the last three years.

In fact, her displeasure of not getting the nomination became evident soon after Abhishek Banerjee announced the candidate list. She was present at the mega rally at Brigade Parade ground where from the candidate list was announced.

However, immediately after the full list was announced, she was spotted leaving the venue with a grim face and talking to someone over her mobile phone. Banerjee contested the 2021 West Bengal from the Bankura Assembly constituency. However, she was defeated, following which she was made the state general secretary of the party.

While Banerjee has tendered her resignation, the sitting MP from Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency in North 24 Parganas district Arjun Singh has accused the Trinamool Congress leadership of not fulfilling the promises made to him. Singh’s name has been dropped from the candidate list and instead the party has nominated state irrigation minister Patha Bhowmik.

Arjun Singh got elected as a BJP candidate in the 2019 after he quit Trinamool Congress before the Lok Sabha polls. However, in 2022 he rejoined Trinamool Congress in the presence of Abhishek Banerjee.

Singh has accused that when he joined Trinamool Congress in 2022, he was promised the nomination from Barrackpore. “But before the elections I was told that the party was considering me from a different Lok Sabha constituency, which I was not willing to accept. The decision of the party is quite shocking to me. Had I been told before I would not have joined the party,” Singh said.

However, he remained silent about his next political move despite being repeatedly asked. Since Sunday, Arjun Singh associates had been protesting against the nomination to Bhowmik from Barrackpore.