More than their contest against each other, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – two biggest political forces in West Bengal – are busy dealing the conflicts rising from within.
BJP’s internal tussle came out in public view when MP Locket Chatterjee faced the wrath of local party workers in Hooghly’s Polba at a public rally.
The protestors complained that despite being their representative, Chatterjee had never set foot in the area since being elected.
The BJP workers demonstrated outside their lawmaker’s office and said that her absence had caused disruption in the region’s development.
Cjatterjee, on the other hand, did not take cognizance of the complaints raised by the protestors and asked her aides to shut the gates, infuriating the local party workers further.
Another section of BJP cadres and leaders tried to pacify the situation and asked the dissenters to not demonstrate infront of the media.
For TMC, on the other hand, the power tussle among its leaders and workers has been the biggest concern for some time now.
From its rebel leader Suvendu Adhikari to MLAs like Shilbhadra Dutta, Jotu Lahiri, Rajiv Banerjee, West Bengal’s governning party seems to be a divided political entity like not other at the moment.
TMC’s internal conflict was there for everyone to see during a ‘Duare Sarkar’ – a mega outreach programme to deliver governement schemes at the doorstep of citizen – camp in Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s (KMC) ward number 14 on Saturday.
On receiving complaints of mismanagement, state cabinet minister Sadhan Pande paid a visit to the camp. That did not go well with local councilor Amal Chakraborty, who was incharge of running the camp.
With Pande enquiring about the details of the ‘Duare Sarkar’ and the allegations of people not receiving service, it enraged Chakraborty further.
The situation escalated soon after and supporters of both the leaders exchanged clashed with each other. The resulting violence broke a section of the stage which was made as a part of the ‘Duare Sarkar’ camp.
Local police had to intervene to control the situation and restore law and order in the region.