In touch with Mamata on merger offer: Akhil Gogoi: Leading anti-CAA activist and Raijor Dal’s lone MLA Akhil Gogoi said he has been offered by the Bengal CM to be her party’s Assam’s unit chief,

Trinamul is working on plans to carry out a rebuilding exercise of its Assam unit, which has been a nominal presence for years

Akhil Gogoi, File picture

Umanand Jaiswal   |   TT  |  Guwahati   |   05.08.21:  Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul, emboldened by the 2021 mandate in Bengal, has set its sights on neighbouring Assam, besides Tripura, to enhance its political presence beyond the state of its origin.

Trinamul is working on plans to carry out a  rebuilding exercise of its Assam unit, which has been a nominal presence for years.

Leading anti-CAA activist and Raijor Dal’s lone MLA Akhil Gogoi on Wednesday said he has been offered by the Bengal chief minister to be her party’s Assam’s unit chief, and merge his party with hers in the Northeast state where the BJP  is in power.

“On Mamata Banerjee’s request, I have met her twice in Calcutta, along with senior party colleagues. She has offered me to run the state unit as the state unit president... she also wants me to merge my party with Trinamul,” said the 45-year-old peasant leader, who rose to prominence as an RTI activist leading anti-corruption movements in Assam.

Gogoi said he was yet to decide on Mamata’s offer.

However, he also added that it has been his party’s stand that all the regional parties should close ranks for a joint offensive against the BJP.

“As a regional party (Raijor Dal) we want to coordinate with other regional parties who are trying to come together,” said the Sibsagar MLA.

“We also want to be part of the federation of (national) Opposition parties. The Opposition had come together after the 1975 Emergency. They are now trying to come together during the undeclared Emergency under the BJP-RSS regime. We want to be part of the joint Opposition, minus the AIUDF,” he added.

Political observers from the region said the Gogoi negotiations suggest Trinamul is planning to rebuild its hitherto feeble state units in Tripura and Assam, before the 2023 Assembly polls in Tripura and the Lok Sabha election in 2024.

A Trinamul vice-president, currently in Delhi, said the party “means business” this time in its plans for forays outside Bengal, and that its newly appointed national general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee — Mamata’s nephew and political heir-apparent — has been spearheading hectic parleys behind the scenes to ensure this does not remain a pipe dream.

“A thorough Swot (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis has been done for states that are promising for us. Tripura and Assam are right up there. Back-channel talks have been taking place at several levels, in multiple states,” he said.

“Abhishek is helming this. PK (poll consultant Prashant Kishor) and his team are also, obviously, involved. She (Mamata) has been kept in the loop, regularly updated… she often helps out with crucial, incisive pointers for breakthroughs,” he added. “Akhil Gogoi has, I believe, been spoken to extensively.”

Trinamul has already publicly announced its plan to contest the Assembly polls and form the state government in Tripura. The past 10-odd days have seen several senior party leaders, including Abhishek, undertake tours of the state to make a statement of intent.

Political observers in Assam said Gogoi is very unlikely to join another party given his “independent nature”, but will not be averse to a tactical tie-up with a regional party, especially an avowedly anti-BJP party such as Trinamul. More so, if Trinamul shows healthy signs of growth before the general election.

They said it would be an uphill task for Trinamul in both states, but it is not wasting time at the moment.

“They have already started tapping into known political faces in Tripura, and will do the same in Assam,” said an observer.

Trinamul had fielded six candidates in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Assam, and 16 in this summer’s Assembly polls, but drew a blank in both.

“The state unit in Assam was formed in 2010, but it has not really taken off. We have only won one MLA seat (Hajo) since. But things have been changing after Trinamul’s mammoth victory against the BJP in Bengal, which has national repercussions,” said a leader in Assam.

Jnanendra Barman, who has been with the party since 2010 as the office secretary, said a number of Congress leaders are being spoken to.

“Then there is a leader of a regional party, besides Akhil Gogoi. A major rebuilding exercise will be launched soon. Most believe that Mamata Banerjee is the leader who can take on the BJP nationally. We are in for some good times,” Barman told this newspaper.