KOLKATA: In a bid to ease out disgruntlement among the loyal and old foot-soldiers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has issued a directive for organising get-together events in every block after Dussehra to felicitate the workers at the grassroots level.
The instructions issued by Banerjee said that no turncoats will be on the list of those who will be felicitated. The move is said to be an effort to pacify the party’s workers who have expressed their unhappiness on several occasions over the importance given to those who joined the TMC from other parties, especially from the BJP.
“Banerjee has asked for felicitation of at least 500 party workers in each block. They will be picked from the booth-level structure of the organisation. Only those workers who joined the party before 2011 and played key roles in the historic Assembly elections that derailed the 34-year Left Front regime in 2011 will be selected,’’ said a senior TMC leader.
According to the directive, the felicitation events will have to be completed between October 11 and October 22 in all the 294 Assembly constituencies. ‘’Panchayat samitis or zila parishads will organise the events in the constituencies, which the TMC failed to bag in the 2021 Assembly polls. The entire felicitation event will have to be recorded on video and sent to Banerjee’s office in Kolkata,’’ the leader added.
In the instructions, Banerjee, the second-in-command in the TMC and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, made it clear that collecting contributions from common people for the programmes will not be allowed.
“He, however, did not mention where the money for organising the events will come from,’’ another leader of the ruling party said. Rift between the old workers and newcomers in the TMC has emerged prominently on several occasions. “Banerjee’s decision of acknowledging loyal workers aims to ease out the disgruntlement among them,’’ the leader added.