Rift Between Trinamool Congress, Ipac Over List Of Municipal Poll Candidates

Tension has been brewing in Trinamool Congress since the release of list of candidates for elections to 107 municipalities, scheduled on February 27.

It is also learnt that everything is not well between the party and its consulting organisation, poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s IPAC.

While minister and TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee and Subrata Bakshi addressed the media on the list of candidates, another one was uploaded on TMC’s Twitter handle. Chatterjee, however, said that the uploaded list was not right because it did not have the final signature and the actual one was given to district presidents. Top Trinamool leaders blamed the agency for the situation.

Amid protests in various districts regarding the list of candidates, Trinamool Congress is planning to sever ties with IPAC. According to sources, party leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken an initiative in this regard.

Mamata’s disapproval of the organisation’s “over-activism” in the party’s internal politics was clear by its selection of candidates for municipality polls, including Kolkata and Bidhannagar.

The IPAC representative, who was present in the selection meeting, also complained that the party did not take into consideration their recommendation. The top party leaders told the firm that they did not need their advice.

The matter has gone so far that two days ago, PK sent a text message to Mamata informing her that they no longer wanted to work with the Trinamool in Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya to which Mamata immediately replied, “Thank you”.

After the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Kishor came to Bengal to work for Trinamool as the head of IPAC. That year, Trinamool defeated the BJP in the state. In the 2021 Assembly elections, PK played a leading role in everything from grassroot voting strategies to candidate selection much to the disappointment of several ‘old’ leaders of the party.

Although PK had officially announced that he would leave IPAC after the landslide victory of Trinamool in the Assembly polls, his presence is still there in the party. He is even a consultant in various government offices.

A top Trinamool leader said: “It remains to be seen what agreement has been reached with the consulting firm. And if there is an agreement, it will be cancelled immediately.”

Meanwhile, Trinamool president of Kalchini block Pashang Lama was arrested on Sunday evening while rumours were circulating about the withdrawal of security of Jahangir Khan, a close associate of Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The arrest of Lama has caused a stir in the political arena but no one is willing to comment on the issue.