Besieged by rebellions – first by the newly elected MLAs, and followed by growing murmurs of an imminent split among her MPs – Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, in a desperate bid to keep her flock together, on Friday announced a major organisational reshuffle in the party, packing it with loyalists and old-timers.

While Mamata has retained nephew Abhishek Banerjee as the party’s national general secretary despite widespread criticism, she has appointed two joint national secretaries – Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen – to assist him, signalling to the rebels that the decision will be taken jointly and not unilaterally by Abhishek.

The announcement was made after the national working committee meeting of the party, which, according to sources, was attended by a handful of leaders at the TMC chief’s Kalighat residence in Kolkata.

The reshuffle comes two days after 60 of the newly elected 80 TMC MLAs defied Mamata Banerjee and party number two Abhishek Banerjee to choose expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

Within minutes of it, TMC leadership dissolved all the party committees and frontal organisations and, in a statement, said it would carry out a “comprehensive exercise of introspection, performance review and organisational assessment at every level”.

The party has also reconstituted its West Bengal unit by replacing incumbent state chief Subrata Bakshi with former minister and Mamata loyalist Chandrima Bhattacharya. Bakshi, on the other hand, has been appointed vice-president in the party’s National Working Committee.
Also, Sajda Ahmed, Mamata Thakur, Nayana Bandyopadhyay, and Swati Khandekar have been appointed state vice presidents, while Aroop Biswas, Rajib Banerjee, Babar Ali, Pulak Roy, and Ashima Patra have been appointed as state general secretaries.

The state unit’s executive members will include Jyotipriyo Mullick, Rana Chatterjee, Bidesh Bose, Trinankur Bhattacharjee, Jaya Dutta, Tapas Chatterjee, Vasundhara Goswamy and Goutam Deb.

According to the TMC sources, more names will be added later to this list.

While the list is packed with TMC old-timers, Firhad Hakim has not found a place in the revamped organisational structure. A trusted lieutenant of Mamata for over two decades and one of the party’s most recognisable minority faces, Hakim’s omission came hours after he stepped down as Kolkata Mayor.

Among the frontal organisations, actor-turned MP Sayoni Ghosh has been retained as president of Trinamool Youth Congress, while Mala Roy has been appointed president of the party’s women wing.

Trinankur Bhattacharya has been removed as president of the party’s student wing (Trinamool Chattra Parishad). His place has been taken by Priyanka Adhikari, who will have Madhurima Thakur as the unit’s general secretary.

Moloy Ghatak will head the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC), while veteran Madan Mitra has been made chief of the party’s hawkers wing.

The party’s farmers wing will be headed by Becharam Manna, while the Birbaha Hansda will lead its SC/ST wing. The party’s Khet Mazdoor (agricultural labourers’) wing will be led by Purnendu Bose.

Chandrima Bhattacharya, Kunal Ghosh, Kalyan Bandopadhyay, and Madan Mitra have been named spokespersons, while Subhasish Chakraborty, the treasurer.

The party’s restructuring was announced a day after senior TMC leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said that while the party may be “safe” in the Upper House, the same could not be said of the Lok Sabha. “I have never seen around 60 MLAs leave in such a short span of time. What I am saying is that a similar reaction is likely in the Lok Sabha too.”

A senior TMC MP had told The Indian Express: “A break in the parliamentary party is now just a matter of time. Already, we have heard that around 20 MPs are in contact with the BJP. This number will increase.”

Earlier in the day, even as Mamata and her camp leaders called up legislators to try to hold the party together, none of the 60 rebel MLAs attended the meeting she called at her residence in the evening. Those present included Abhishek Banerjee and Sreerampur MP Kalyan Banerjee.

However, according to a TMC statement, it was a national working committee meeting to which not all MPs and MLAs were called.
Among TMC MPs, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar has already resigned from all organisational posts. A four-time Lok Sabha member and long-time loyalist of Mamata, the Barasat MP stepped down after expressing disappointment with the leadership and raising concerns over the party’s internal functioning after she was removed as the parliamentary party’s chief whip.

Even Kalyan Banerjee, whose appointment as chief whip led to Ghosh Dastidar’s resignation, has admitted to anxiety over party unity, adding that Mamata had “overlooked many corrupt practices during her tenure”, which had led to increasing unhappiness among leaders.

Sekhar Roy’s remarks on Friday came after he also publicly questioned the state of internal democracy within the TMC, alleging institutionalised corruption and criticising the influence of political consultancy firm I-PAC in organisational decision-making.

Actor-turned-politician and MP Deepak Adhikari, popularly known as Dev, has set off speculation about his own loyalties with his expression of confidence in the BJP-led government in Bengal and call for an end to “political hostility” and “misinformation”.

Apart from calling them up personally, Mamata has also instructed the legislators with her to reach out to the rebels, listen to their problems and assure them of redressal, apart from promising that she would talk to them too.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, TMC Itahar MLA Musharraf Hossain, among those in the rebel camp, said he and others want to remain under Mamata’s leadership, but don’t want to be led by Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s national general secretary.

“We all signed (the resolution) for the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly (in defiance of the party line). But it is also true that we want Mamata as the chairperson of the party. We don’t want to break the party,” Hossain said.

He added that he and the others had conveyed the same to Mamata’s “representatives,” who reached out to them. Pointing out that Mamata has announced dissolution of all party organisations, Hossain said: “It is up to our leader to decide on the issue of Abhishek Banerjee.”
Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh, who remains in the Mamata camp, said, “I have spoken to four such (rebel) MLAs. They said they signed (the resolution on the party’s Assembly leadership) under pressure… But they want to work under Mamata Banerjee.”

However, Ritabrata, the Uluberia Purba MLA, and Entally MLA Sandipan Saha, seen as the main rebel leaders who have been “expelled” by Mamata, said there was no going back. Ritabrata, accepted as the Leader of the Opposition by the Speaker after the rebel MLAs backed him, said: “I can say that our unity is intact and we will only grow in numbers in the Assembly.”

Saha said: “We have already been accepted by the Speaker of the Assembly as the principal Opposition.” Asked about Mamata, he said: “We are the Trinamool Congress and Mamata Banerjee is our leader. All we have said is that she plays the role of an adviser… Hossain is trying to mislead a section of the MLAs.”