Abhishek suspends over 100 leaders, workers for ‘anti-party activities’

Kolkata: At the order of Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, hundreds of party leaders and workers in the block and booth level covering districts of Howrah, East Midnapore, West Midnapore and Hooghly have been suspended for filing nominations as Independent candidates and opposing the ones chosen by the party.

Over 100 block and booth-level leaders and workers of the TMC were suspended from the party on Thursday on the orders of Abhishek.

Leaders of the party in these districts, including the Tamluk MLA and former Cabinet minister Soumen Mahapatra, held press conferences at the district party offices to make the announcements of the names of those who have been removed from the party.

It was announced that the ones suspended were involved in anti-party activities which include filing nominations as Independent candidates for the upcoming Panchayat polls after being refused tickets by the party. There are also those who have declared open rebellion against the candidates who have been selected by the party.

The TMC district leaders who made the announcements confirmed that the order has come directly from Abhishek. While for some districts this was the first list of suspended workers, in Howrah the district leaders read out the second list of suspensions which contained nine names.

In West Midnapore about 27 were suspended, the majority of whom were from the Garbeta-I Block. In East Midnapore, the number was 43 while in Hooghly district it is 26.

During the Nabajowar campaign, Abhishek Banerjee during his interactions with the booth-level leaders and workers had warned against defying party orders. He said that the ones who will indulge in anti-party activities will be shown the door by him. He had clarified that there can be dissent among booth workers regarding the choice of candidates fielded by the party but that should not amount to sabotaging the campaign of the chosen candidate.

But in the wake of such mass suspensions, sources in the district leadership are also worried about a “mass rebellion” leading to possible clashes. Without wanting to be named, some have said that they have been told there may be more names.

One of them said that if the party continues to lose more workers, it may become difficult to fight against opposition parties who will be recruiting several of these suspended workers to boost their party’s organisational strength at the booth level.