Kolkata, May 31 (IANS) Signs of internal discord within the Trinamool Congress came to the fore on Sunday after a meeting of the Trinamool Legislative Party at the residence of party supremo and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was called off following poor attendance by MLAs.

The meeting had been convened by Trinamool Legislative Party leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay at Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence. According to party sources, the venue was chosen to underline the importance of the meeting, and Mamata Banerjee had also been requested to attend in order to strengthen coordination between the party leadership and MLAs.

The Trinamool Congress currently has 80 MLAs in the new Assembly. However, only around 20 legislators turned up for the meeting on Sunday, following which it was cancelled due to a lack of quorum.

Responding to questions over the cancellation, Trinamool spokesperson and Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh said the party’s legislators were occupied with developments following the alleged attack on Abhishek Banerjee in Sonarpur on Saturday.

“After the attack on Abhishek Banerjee in Sonarpur on Saturday, the MLAs are busy with various programmes. In addition, Trinamool leaders and activists are being attacked in various areas and arrested in false cases. In such a situation, MLAs have been receiving calls since yesterday evening suggesting that it would be better to reschedule the meeting,” Ghosh said.

He further said that Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Kalyan Banerjee had also come under attack.

“Along with Abhishek, Kalyan Banerjee was also attacked. Overall, the meeting has been postponed in such a situation. That is why Sunday’s meeting has been cancelled. That is why the MLAs did not come,” he said.

Ghosh added that party leaders and activists had been instructed to organise protest marches at the block level against the alleged attacks on Abhishek Banerjee and Kalyan Banerjee.

However, despite the explanation offered by the party leadership, questions remain over the circumstances surrounding the cancellation of the meeting.

Political observers pointed out that if the decision to postpone the meeting had been taken in advance, it remained unclear why around 20 MLAs still arrived at Mamata Banerjee’s residence in Kalighat.

This has triggered speculation over whether the leadership had accurately assessed the likely attendance before deciding to convene the meeting, or whether the decision to cancel it was taken after the turnout became evident.

Among those who attended were former Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra, Palashipara MLA Rukbanur Rahman, Budge Budge MLA Ashok Deb, Panchla MLA Gulshan Mallick, Maltipur MLA Abdul Rahim Bakshi and Kumarganj MLA Toraf Hossain Mandal.

Among those absent were Entally MLA Sandipan Saha, whose mobile phone was reportedly switched off, Kasba MLA Javed Khan and Metiaburuz MLA Abdul Khaleque Mollah.

–IANS

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