The prompt action taken by the disciplinary committee of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) against Shankudeb Panda by dropping him from the general secretary’s post has given a clear message to the party’s leaders and workers that strong action would be taken if someone is found not following the party’s diktat.
The four member disciplinary committee of the party including Partha Chatterjee, Firhad Hakim, Subrata Bakshi and Arup Biswas met on Monday afternoon and removed Panda from his position till the inquiry conducted by the CBI was completed.
Panda was interrogated twice by the CBI in connection with the multi-crore Saradha scam.
Earlier, the organisation while challenging the bail petition of Madan Mitra had said if he was released on bail then he might influence the witnesses.
In such cases the accused person is suspended. But Panda has been removed from his posts pending inquiry.
It may be recalled Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had reprimanded the leaders from West Midnapore, Burdwan and Hooghly and asked to bury differences with their rival camps and fight together in the 2016 Assembly polls.
She said, “I am not going to tolerate any kind of indiscipline and anyone not following the party’s diktats would be pulled up.”
She futher asked the leaders to behave soberly with the public and listen carefully to their grievances.
Party insiders said that action against Panda would also caution the leaders who got involved in infighting over the syndicates.
They said the message had been clear that nothing to tarnish the image of the party would be tolerated and those who were holding posts must have clean images.
“Discipline and intense mass contact seem to be the party’s main agenda before the 2016 Assembly polls,” party insiders maintained.