Mamata forms 20-member nat'l working committee of TMC

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee, on Saturday, formed a 20-member national working committee after a meeting with some senior party leaders at her Kalighat residence. The name of the new office bearers will later be announced by Banerjee herself.

"Till our chairperson does not announce the new list of office bearers, all the other posts of the last committee cease to exist," a senior TMC leader pointed out.

"Mamata Banerjee was re-elected as the chairperson of the party recently where she announced a small committee to look after party affairs. Today (Saturday), a meeting of that committee was held where she announced our new national working committee," senior TMC leader Partha Chatterjee said.

He added that the TMC supremo will later appoint the new office bearers and accordingly it would be sent to the Election Commission of India.

Among the leaders who found a place in the national working committee are Amit Mitra, Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Bakshi, Sudip Bandopadhyay, Abhishek Banerjee, Anubrata Mondal, Aroop Biswas, Firhad Hakim, Yashwant Sinha, Asima Patra, Chandrima Bhattacharjee, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Moloy Ghatak, Jyotipriya Mallick, Goutam Deb, Buluchik Baraik and Rajesh Tripathi. Interestingly, only two leaders from other states Yashwant Sinha and Rajesh Tripathi are part of the national working committee of TMC.

For quite some time, a section of the media has been circulating news regarding an alleged power game "between Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee". Also, confusion has been deliberately created over the party's decision on 'One Person, One Post' on social media. Stories on the "strained" relationship between Trinamool Congress and I-PAC have also been circulated. It is alleged that I-PAC is keeping a tab on the leaders and has played a key role in nominating candidates for the civic elections.

A senior TMC leader who attended the meeting claimed that there has been no discussion on any other issue other than the working committee.

Regarding the elections in Goa which is scheduled on Monday Banerjee said that TMC will do well in four-five seats while its ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party will perform well in two-three seats.

Mamata Banerjee had founded Trinamool Congress in 1998 after breaking away from the Congress and has headed it ever since.