KOLKATA: With attendance of only 20 out of 80 Trinamool Congress MLAs, a meeting called by Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, legislative party leader in the West Bengal Assembly, at former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's residence in Kalighat on Sunday afternoon was called off.
The development has escalated discontent within the party after it suffered a defeat to the BJP in the Assembly elections.
Having won 208 Assembly seats, the BJP formed the government in Bengal for the first time. The absence of 60 Trinamool Congress legislators from the meeting at the party supremo's residence indicated that the leadership's attempt to strengthen coordination among its 80 MLAs had suffered a major setback.
The party later offered an explanation for the low attendance, saying leaders were occupied following attacks on Trinamool Congress leaders Abhishek Banerjee and Kalyan Banerjee.
Clarifying the attendance of only 20 lawmakers, newly elected MLA and party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told reporters, "MLAs are busy with different programmes following the incident of attack on Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday in Sonarpur. Apart from this, many MLAs are leaders and workers of the party are being attacked and heckled during post-poll violence across districts. They are also being arrested after police frame false cases against them. Considering the situation, MLAs were making calls since Saturday evening, urging the party leadership to reschedule the day of the meeting, instead of today."
He added, "Beside Abhishek, Kalyan Bandyopadhyay was also physically attacked today. Naturally, the meeting has been deferred owing to the prevailing situation. Today's meeting has been cancelled and as a result of which, MLAs could not come."
He also said that party leaders and workers had been instructed to organise protest rallies across blocks in the state on Monday, condemning the attacks on Abhishek and Kalyan.
Mamata Banerjee is set to hit the road against the BJP for the first time since the fall of the Trinamool Congress government in the state. She will lead a sit-in protest at Rani Rashmoni Avenue in Esplanade on June 2 against the attacks on Trinamool Congress leaders and workers allegedly by BJP supporters during the post-poll period.
MLAs including Biman Bandyopadhyay, former Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, Madan Mitra, Rookbanur Rahaman, Ashok Deb, Gulshan Mullick, Abdul Rahim Bakshi and Toraf Hossain Mondal attended the meeting at Kalighat.
Kalyan claimed he suffered head injuries after being mobbed outside a police station in West Bengal's Hooghly district on Sunday, where he had gone to submit a memorandum against the arrest of party workers following the Assembly elections. He alleged that BJP supporters were responsible for the attack.
The incident came a day after Abhishek Banerjee was allegedly roughed up by locals when he visited Sonarpur town in South 24 Parganas district to meet families of post-poll violence victims.
The mob soon turned violent and began pelting eggs and stones. A few people allegedly slapped and punched Abhishek. The Trinamool Congress leader was escorted away with the help of security personnel.
