Rebel TMC leader Anubrata Mondal on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on Abhishek Banerjee, alleging that the party's national general secretary was responsible for his imprisonment in the cattle smuggling case, and claimed he repeatedly urged Mamata Banerjee to sideline her nephew after the party's electoral debacle.
The broadside came hours after veteran TMC MLA Madan Mitra formally joined the rebel camp led by Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, adding to the escalating rebellion against the Mamata Banerjee-Abhishek Banerjee leadership.
"Why did I go to jail? For whom did I go to jail? I went to jail because of Abhishek Banerjee," Mondal, already a part of the rebel group, told reporters while heading to a meeting of the Ritabrata-led faction.
Claiming that former chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had called him four times after the TMC's crushing defeat in the assembly polls, the former Birbhum strongman said he had advised her to "listen with your ears, not your eyes" and remove Abhishek from the party's leadership structure.
"I told her, 'You don't see with your eyes, hear with your ears. Correct yourself. Remove Abhishek from the party,'" he claimed.
Mondal, arrested by the CBI in the multi-crore cattle smuggling case in August 2022 and later lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail before securing bail, alleged that his imprisonment was the consequence of decisions taken by Abhishek, without elaborating on the basis of the charge.
The remarks marked a significant escalation in the internal war within the TMC, with the rebellion increasingly centring on Abhishek's leadership rather than directly targeting Mamata Banerjee.
'AB was more frightening than the ED'
Fresh from switching to the Ritabrata camp, Madan Mitra reinforced that narrative, accusing Abhishek of running TMC in an "authoritarian" manner.
"The party's present condition is because of Abhishek alone. 'AB' was more frightening than the ED. He ran the party like Hitler. Many people had to go to jail because of him. Those who did not pay money landed in jail," Mitra alleged.
He also claimed he had remained silent earlier because speaking out would have invited police action against him.
The timing of Mitra's defection has drawn attention as the Enforcement Directorate summoned his wife and two sons on Tuesday in connection with the alleged municipal recruitment scam.
TMC leaders loyal to Mamata Banerjee have alleged that central agencies were being used to pressure leaders into deserting the party.
Mondal rejected similar suggestions in his case, insisting he had not changed sides because of any investigation.
"Those are baseless allegations. I am not afraid of such things," he said.
Once the undisputed political heavyweight of Birbhum, Mondal had steadily lost organisational influence after returning from jail. His differences with district leader Kajal Sheikh became public, and he repeatedly complained of being kept away from election management and campaign responsibilities during the assembly polls.
However, both Sheikh and Mondal have now joined the rebel TMC camp.
Following the TMC's defeat, Mondal had already blamed Abhishek and the election strategist I-PAC for the party's collapse, alleging that tickets were influenced by money.
On Wednesday, he took the attack a step further by holding Abhishek personally responsible for his imprisonment.
Mondal also predicted that Mitra's exit would not be the last.
"Soon, nobody will remain with Mamata Banerjee. Everyone will leave that camp," he said.
Even as senior leaders continued to desert or attack the leadership, Mamata Banerjee publicly closed ranks behind her nephew.
In a live address earlier in the day, she dismissed the criticism of Abhishek as a convenient excuse for those quitting the party.
"You are making Abhishek the excuse because he is your mirror. If, in your eyes, he has committed any mistake, all his mistakes stand forgiven. He is fighting like a tiger," she said.
Recalling that both Abhishek and his wife had repeatedly appeared before central agencies despite sustained investigations, Mamata said they could have "compromised" if they had wished, but chose not to.
(With inputs from PTI)