Abhishek Banerjee skips 1st meeting of Trinamool’s core committee on screening of voters list in Bengal

Kolkata, March 6 (IANS) Trinamool Congress General Secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday skipped the crucial first meeting of the core committee of the party set up to screen the voters’ list in West Bengal and identify the bogus voters there.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while addressing the extended organisation meeting of the Trinamool on February 27, had announced the formation of the core committee and Abhishek Banerjee’s name was second on the list after the party’s state President Subrata Bakshi.

The announcement of the formation of the core committee was made amid apprehensions of the Chief Minister that two online agencies appointed by the BJP have become active in West Bengal these days to “tamper with” the voters’ list in the state so that voters from other states can vote in the 2026 Assembly elections in the state.

Although officially the Trinamool leaders were not willing to speak of Abhishek Banerjee’s absence in the first meeting of the core committee, a couple of them, under strict continuation of anonymity, said that the General Secretary will be present at the proposal virtual meeting with all levels of party leadership scheduled on March 15.

However, his absence kindled the speculation in the political circles about the continuing and simmering internal cold war within the Trinamool over the issue of “fresh blood” and the “old guard” in leadership positions.

The proposed core committee formed to screen the voters’ list had two layers. In the second layer, there are district-level committees whose tasks are to identify such alleged misappropriations in their respective districts.

Above the district-level crore committees, there is the centralised core committee which is headed by Bakshi, and where Abhishek Banerjee’s name is the second in the list.

Political observers feel that after Abhishek Banerjee addressed the extended organisation meeting of the party on February 27 and rubbished speculation of this growing differences within the Trinamool, it was perceived that he would be present at the first meeting of the core committee on Thursday.

However, his absence is now bound to kindly fresh rounds of speculations in the matter, feel observers.

–IANS

src/vd