Mamata Banerjee warns TMC leaders over 'internal conflict' ahead of Lok Sabha polls

Kickstaring her preparation for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Mamata on Wednesday held a meeting with MLAs and leaders from Paschim Midnapore district at her residence in south Kolkata.

Angry at statements issued by party leaders in public, Mamata has asked TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and state president Subrata Bakshi to prepare a new list of spokespersons, who would be the only people from the camp to brief the media.

Mamata, who was flanked by Abhishek, Bakshi on one side and actor-MP Dev on the other, issued a warning over leaders belonging to two different generations within the party expressing their grievances in public.

Some reports had earlier claimed Abhishek, who is Mamata's nephew and also a number two in the party, had expressed his desire to keep himself restricted to his Lok Sabha constituency Diamond Harbour in the upcoming polls, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are eyeing a third straight term in power.

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In a startling statement, Bakshi told reporters, "We are sure that Abhishek Banerjee will not back off. If he fights, he will definitely fight under Mamata Banerjee's leadership and TMC symbol."

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh had objected to Bakshi's choice of words.

Ghatal MP Dev's presence in the meeting was significant as several reports have claimed the leading Bengali superstar was not keen to contest the elections for the third time.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, TMC, which has been winning elections in the state since 2009, suffered a major jolt as the BJP won 18 seats while the ruling party was reduced to 22.

However, BJP's spirited performance was short-lived as TMC stormed back to power two years later winning over 200 seats.

Though TMC is undoubtedly far ahead of its competitors in terms of its organisational strength, the ruling party faced massive embarrassment over the last couple of years owing to several corruption charges levelled against Mamata's camp.

Erstwhile Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and former Food Minister Jyotipriyo Mallick have been arrested in two different cases.