Pirzada Toha Siddique, an influential cleric of Furfura Sharif in Hooghly district, felt that some senior leaders in the ruling Trinamul Congress are disgruntled because of party supremo Mamata Banerjee’s overt dependence on her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
Toha’s assessment is politically significant, felt political analysts, when several senior leaders and MLAs like Suvendu Adhikary, state transport and irrigation minister, are alienating from TMC’s top leadership, skipping party programmes and government functions ahead of Assembly polls next year in the state.
“Juniors should not rule the senior leaders in a political set up like Trinamul Congress. It’s not fair to give more political power to her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, MP from Diamond Harbour ignoring seniors,” Toha told The Statesman today.
“Sudhu bhaipo, bhaipo korle hobe na,senior netarao achhen (don’t look for the nephew only, senior leaders are also there in the party). The chief minister should sit on a meeting with experienced senior leaders like Suvendu Adhikari to solve the intraparty feud in Trinamul Congress,” he said.
When asked about Asaduddin Owaisis’ AIMIM proposal for an electoral alliance with TMC in the forthcoming Assembly elections,Toha said, “Muslims in Bengal will never support this kind of political move because this state is secular one. AIMIM backed by the BJP wants to damage the secular fabric of this state. Earlier, I was also a supporter of Asaduddin’s party but I am now disillusioned with it,” he added.
AIMIM has bagged five Assembly seats in Bihar prompting the RJD-led Grand Alliance to allege that BJP of conniving.
It would be difficult for TMC to come back to power again for third time in in 2021 in Bengal if the party fields again around 35 MLAs who have close political connections with the BJP as well RSS.
“Around 30 to 35 MLAs of ruling Trinamul Congress should not be given tickets to contest the elections scheduled in 2021 because of their dubious political identity. These MLAs from districts like Howrah, Hooghly, South and North 24 Parganas, East Midnapore and West Midnapore are Trinamul Congress leaders in daytime but in night they work for the saffron camp as BJP and RSS workers,” according to him.
“Trinamul Congress government has done huge development works like good roads, electricity and supply of drinking water everywhere in the state but it has pathetically ignored the issue of generating jobs for minority youths. I think, the chief minister should take up the issue seriously,” Toha said.
Miss Banerjee’s bulwark has been firm support of the minorities which comprise 30 per cent of votes in Bengal. Since 2011, when Trinamul came to power ending 34 years’ Left regime in the state, it has been making renewed attempts to reach out to the Muslims whose votes can garner nearly 75 out of 294 Assembly constituencies while they play a vital role in another 35 to 40 seats.
In order to woo Muslim vote banks every political party rush to Furfura Sharif and meets Toha ahead of elections.