Abhishek hints at overhaul in party, emphasises accountability

Kolkata: On his birthday, with scores of supporters and party colleagues gathering outside his residence to wish him, Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, speaking to the Press, hinted at upcoming changes within the party, underscoring a focus on accountability within TMC.

Speaking to the media persons, Banerjee, on Thursday, signalled that district presidents and municipality chairpersons whose performance has fallen short may soon be reshuffled. Dressed in a black T-shirt and sunglasses, Banerjee stepped out of his house to greet his supporters and party workers, who had gathered outside his residence.

He was seen shaking his hands and giving autographs to his followers. Several TMC MPs and MLAs also went to Banerjee’s residence to wish him on his birthday. Incidentally, it was Banerjee’s first public interaction after he returned from the USA following his eye surgery. Earlier, he was seen attending the Kali Puja at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence. On Thursday outside his residence, Abhishek cut a cake brought by his party supporters with the inscription “Lorai Kore Bachte Chai (want to fight and live) on the cake.

The people were seen carrying posters and greeting him. Many have captured selfies also. When it comes to organisation, a major revamp is expected within TMC soon which Banerjee hinted at. Before going abroad, he had submitted his report to party supremo Mamata Banerjee making certain recommendations about the reshuffle of leaders in the districts.

The changes will be made based on a survey and also on the party’s opinion. Banerjee, however, said that there were unlikely any changes in the

party’s leadership in Birbhum as the party had performed well in that district in recent elections.

Some of the party presidents in the districts and a few municipality chairman may be removed. The action plan is ready and the top party leaders have chalked out the strategy on how to carry out the overhauling. Giving utmost priority to carrying out a ‘cleansing’ work within the organisation and also for evaluating the performance of local leaders in the districts, a survey has already been carried out. Meanwhile, Banerjee is going to hold a Bijoya Sammelani programme in his Constituency Diamond Harbour on Saturday when he will meet the leaders from the South 24-Parganas. He may chalk out guidelines as to how to carry out the next course of action of the party in the district. Moreover, he also called for “course correction” in various departments of the state government in the aftermath of the rape and murder of the doctor at the RG Medical College and Hospital.

“RG Kar should serve as a lesson. It’s not just the Health Department that needs rectification, this should impel course correction across various government departments,” he said.

“A lot of people and departments collectively work under a government. It is not always possible to monitor the activities of every individual. That is why course correction is a continuous process to weed out such (rotten) elements,” he said.