TMC leader's outburst embarrasses party : Anubrata Mondal’s ‘phone clout’

Kajal said, Birbhum organisation is still run by telephonic instructions from jailed strongman

Anubrata Mondal. Sheikh Kajal addresses a meeting in Birbhum’s Nanoor on Sunday: Picture by Amarnath Dutta

Snehamoy Chakraborty   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |  13.02.23  : Trinamul found itself in a spot on Sunday after Sheikh Kajal, a core committee member appointed by party supremo Mamata Banerjee, said its Birbhum organisation is still run by telephonic instructions from jailed strongman Anubrata Mondal. 

Mondal is presently lodged in an Asansol jail after being arrested in a multi-crore cattle smuggling case last August by the CBI. 

“Bikashda (chief of the Birbhum Zilla Parishad and Trinamul MLA from Suri Bikash Roy Chowdhury) has said he is running the party with instructions from Anubrata Mondal. It indicates he is surely having a regular conversation with Keshto da (as Mondal is referred to by his followers) over the phone from jail. This reality would be known if Bikash da’s phone is checked,” said Sheikh Kajal, a Trinamul leader from Birbhum’s Nanoor, and an allegedly old face of the anti-Mondal camp in Trinamul.

Trinamul leaders said that Kajal’s statement became embarrassing for the party as the Opposition, including the BJP, have also frequently accused Mondal of running the party affairs in Birbhum from Asansol jail.

“Kajal’s statement has actually corroborated the Opposition’s claim. It was not expected and it would have been better if he did not toe the same line as the BJP and the CPM,” said a senior Trinamul leader. 

Trinamul chairperson Mamata, who visited Birbhum for three days from January 30, met around 70 party leaders of the district and vowed to take care of the party’s affairs till Mondal’s release. After the meeting, she reshuffled the Birbhum core committee and included Kajal as one of its seven members.

Since then, Kajal also attended a district committee meeting in Bolpur where all senior leaders including Bikash Roy Chowdhury were present. 

“Kajal was not happy with a few Trinamul leaders of the core committee as they were not properly following Mamata Banerjee’s directives. His outburst on Sunday reflects his hostility,” said a Trinamul leader in Birbhum. 

Kajal said he was a follower of Mamata and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, and wanted to obey Mamata’s instructions. 

“I am a soldier of Trinamul and politics is my passion, not profession. So, I asked them (the Birbhum leaders) to conduct a weekly meeting of the committee according to Mamata Banerjee’s instruction,” Kajal told reporters on the sidelines of a party event in Nanoor. “But that did not happen.”

Contacted, Bikash Roy Chowdhury claimed Kajal’s statement was completely false. 

“It is a completely false and baseless statement that I have had a telephonic conversation with Anubrata Mondal. The fact is that the party is going ahead in the direction shown by Anubrata Mondal. But it does not mean what he (Kajal) said is true. I will let the appropriate authorities know about this,” he said.