Anubrata Mondal, Trinamool Congress (TMC) district president in Birbhum, took it upon himself to declare the candidate in Sainthia constituency for the upcoming Assembly Elections without waiting for the party’s confirmation.

In a regional meeting on Tuesday, Mondal declared that current Sainthia MLA Nilabati Saha is likely to get the TMC ticket in the Bidhan Sabba Elections, likely to be held in April next year.

“Nilabati is the running MLA. Good girl. She has done development in her area. TMC workers want her again. Who am I to decide? Mamata Banerjee will take the final decision. I’m just talking about Didi’s candidate,” Mandal was quoted as saying by Bengali daily Sangbad Pratidin.

He added, “This is Didi’s vote. She is likely to make Nilabati Saha the candidate. She will again be your candidate. Will you vote for her? Will you work for her again?”

If reports in Bengali media are to be believed, this high-handed approach of Mondal in taking election-related decisions has become a cause of concern among other party leaders in the district.

Recently in another meeting in Rampurhat constituency, Mondal had taken a similar step and named Ashish Banerjee as the candidate there without waiting for the final words from the party high command.

The meeting, on Tuesday, was held with the booth workers of three regions in Sainthia constituency, namely Fulur, Harisara and Deriyapur. In the Lok Sabha elections last year, BJP had taken a lead in all the three regions, especially in the Adivasi-dominated areas.

Mondal’s meeting was, thus, called to inspire the ground-level workers and give them an idea of how to strategise ahead of the Assembly Elections.

The district president wanted to know if the Adivasi populace had availed benefits from the development programmes that were designed for them by the Mamata Banerjee administration.

He gave an ultimatum to the workers to let go of their lackadaisical approach. Mondal reminded them to ensure that each and every Aadivasi citizen was made aware of the facilities that the West Bengal government had brought for them, in an attempt to regain TMC’s lost vote share.

“If we lost again I’ll remove everyone of you. Party is the last word. No one is above the party. Everyone has to be disciplined,” Mondal said.