Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee launched an indirect attack against West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari making it clear that leaders who had defected from the party would not be welcomed back.
Speaking at her faction’s Martyrs’ Day rally on Tuesday, Banerjee said that the present government was more interested in weakening the Trinamool Congress than maintaining law and order.
“I know what he had done during his nearly decade-long stint in the Trinamool Congress. Don’t provoke me,” the former chief minister said.
Sharpening her attack on the chief minister, alleging that the present government was more interested in weakening the Trinamool Congress than maintaining law and order, Banerjee said, “I know what he had done during his nearly decade-long stint in the Trinamool Congress. Don’t provoke me.”
Her remarks echoed similar comments she had made nearly two months after the Assembly election results, when she had reminded Adhikari of his long tenure as a Trinamool MLA, minister and organisational leader across several districts, saying she was aware of everything he had done while in the party.
Without naming Ritabrata Banerjee’s camp, she described it as the BJP’s “B-team” and alleged that the breakaway faction was indirectly helping the BJP under the guise of forming a separate political platform.
“It has been good for the party. The thieves have left. Pardon me. They won’t be taken back,” Banerjee said, urging them to join the BJP directly instead of acting as its “side pillow”.
She asserted that their places would be taken by the party’s student and youth workers.
Stepping up her attack on the breakaway faction, Banerjee claimed that while some people could be silenced temporarily through intimidation, it would not alter the party’s real strength.
Declaring that “we are the real Trinamool”, she said merely putting up a signboard did not create a political party and alleged that the rival faction was effectively the BJP’s signboard.
She maintained that although some leaders had left, the grassroots workers remained with her camp.
“The people who have come here are my gold mine. I could arrange for any vehicle; I couldn’t purchase tickets for them. I couldn’t make arrangements for their stay and food but still they have come. They love the party. They are my goldmine. They will fill up the vacuum,” the former chief minister said.
Banerjee raised allegations that the stage for the rally had been vandalised on Monday night.
“More than 600 bikers arrived, damaged the stage, cut sound system cables and repeatedly attempted to disrupt preparations,” she said.
She alleged that despite informing the police, no action was taken during the night and accused the BJP of orchestrating the attacks, though she appealed to party workers not to blame the police directly, saying she had worked with the force in the past and knew under whose instructions the incidents had taken place.
The rally marked the first Martyrs’ Day programme after the split in the Trinamool Congress, making this year’s July 21 observance unprecedented.