TMC glare on underperformers, meeting today on accountability with eye on 2026 Assembly polls

A source said the meeting, scheduled at 3pm at Mamata Banerjee's residence, 30B Harish Chatterjee Street, will take place in the presence of the party's national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee

Snehamoy Chakraborty, TT, Calcutta, 08.06.24 : Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will meet the party's 42 Lok Sabha candidates — both victorious and vanquished — and district presidents and coordinators at her Kalighat residence on Saturday to brief them on the party's strategies inside and outside Parliament.

A source said the meeting, scheduled at 3pm at Mamata's residence, 30B Harish Chatterjee Street, will take place in the presence of the party's national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee.

Abhishek has begun playing a larger role at the all-India level after the Lok Sabha polls in which Trinamool bagged 29 of the 42 parliamentary seats in Bengal.

"Apart from congratulating the new MPs and complimenting the defeated candidates for putting up a good fight, Didi and Abhishek are likely to give directions to the party leaders for the future course of action. As the party will begin preparations for the next Assembly elections without wasting time, the meeting will be very important," said a TMC source.

A senior TMC leader said that Abhishek wants to change the existing practice of political activism by the TMC leadership only ahead of the polls.

Abhishek considers that the battle with the BJP, which has a robust election machinery, cannot be won unless a system is put in place in which Trinamool leaders remain active 24/7 through the year.

"The party wants to keep its leaders active throughout the year.... Political activities will certainly increase during the election period, but there will be no leisure window," the leader said.

Sources in the TMC's election management team said that the party has already taken note of the detailed poll outcome, which has revealed that it was ahead in 192 Assembly segments, which was 21 less than the actual number of Assembly seats it had bagged in the 2021 polls.

A senior TMC leader said that though the party is in a celebratory mood after the June 4 results, its leadership is not taking this statistic — the lower number of leads in Assembly segments — lightly.

Abhishek, who met with leaders in most districts before this crucial Lok Sabha election, had warned that if they failed to give a lead to the Lok Sabha nominees from their areas, they would lose their posts.

He had also mentioned in a few review meetings of the election committees that those MLAs who do not manage to give a lead from their constituency, would not be given poll tickets in the 2026 Assembly polls.

He proposed the same strategy for public representatives in rural and civic bodies.

"In Purulia, the Trinamool candidate, Santiram Mahato, was defeated by a margin of 17,000 votes. In Purulia town, Trinamool trailed by over 20,000 votes. The chairman of the Purulia municipality has to accept responsibility for this defeat," a TMC leader explained.

Amid the buzz on whether the party would take action against its leaders for failing to provide leads in their respective segments, some heads have already begun rolling.

On Friday, the chief and deputy chiefs of four gram panchayats in Hooghly's Chinsurah submitted their resignations to the local BDO, a party source said.