TMC expels 99 leaders for anti-party activities

ALIPURDUAR: On the heels of Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s warning from the meeting in the Alipurduar district on Saturday, the party

brought down the axe on 99 leaders.

Within 24 hours of Banerjee’s warning regarding party members filing nominations as Independents, going against the party, 99 leaders were expelled.

This expulsion was announced during a press conference at the party office in Jaigaon, in the presence of district president Prakash Chikbaraik.

Incidentally on Saturday, addressing a public meeting in Falakata, Banerjee had stated that any party

member who had not received a party ticket but had filed nominations as an Independent candidate would be expelled.

“Not a single such Independent candidate will be taken back in the party,” Banerjee had warned.

Prakash stated: “None of those expelled individuals had received Trinamool tickets for the upcoming Panchayat polls. Some of them decided to contest the elections on tickets from other parties like CPI(M), BJP or Congress, while others chose to file nominations as Independent candidates. Those who went against the party and became candidates of other parties or are contesting as Independents have been identified and expelled from the party, following the instructions from Abhishek Banerjee. It was made clear earlier that such individuals would not be allowed to return to the party fold later.”

The party released a list of expelled leaders based on their respective blocks. Kalchini Block has the largest number of expelled leaders.

Among those expelled were several organisational post-holders from the district committee, as well as public representatives.

The list included Panchayat Samiti president Aruna Pariwar, former Vivekananda-II Gram Panchayat Pradhan Bideshi Kullu and Upa Pradhan Uma Das as part of the disciplinary action taken by the party.