KOLKATA: Before leaving for Lucknow on Monday, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee broke her silence in the wake of growing dissent over the February 27 civic poll candidate list to say that the list, signed by Subrata Bakshi and Partha Chatterjee, was final.
"There is no confusion. The list signed by Subrata Bakshi and Partha Chatterjee is final," Banerjee said.
Earlier in the day, Trinamool secretary general Chatterjee tried to clear confusion in the ranks by saying that the list released and the changes made in a few wards were done with Banerjee's approval. "The final list has been sent to party district chairpersons and presidents on Sunday," he said, ruling out scope for more changes.
The confusion over the candidate list continued since it was released on February 4. A section of Trinamool leaders pointed out that the list signed by Bakshi and Chatterjee didn't match with the one uploaded on Trinamool's official website. Efforts were made to iron out the "mismatch", resulting in two sets of protests - some people happy with the initial list wanted it to stay while others wanted a change.
Even Trinamool veteran Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay left a party meeting in Khardah in a huff after at least four names sent to party seniors didn't figure on the list.
Trinamool's Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra too cited "lack of communication" between party seniors while firming up the list. "I am not the authority to decide names. But it is a fact that names of some Trinamool leaders were dropped at the last moment. Some people are taking advantage of an apparent gap between Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee," he said at a party workers' meeting in Kamarhati.
Englishbazar Municipality in Malda is an instance. Kakoli Chowdhury, wife of outgoing councillor Paritosh Chowdhury, was named the ward 3 candidate in the initial list. Later, another list signed by Bakshi and Chatterjee named Manisha Saha the candidate. Both Chowdhury and Saha launched their campaign as Trinamool candidates from the same ward.
The same thing happened in Barrackpore Municipality's ward 3: Trinamool candidates Sutapa Dutta and Sandipa Biswas both hit the streets seeking votes.
Chatterjee described it as a problem of plenty. "Trinamool is a big party. We released names of candidates for 2,272 wards, of which disputes are over a small percentage. Our leader is Mamata Banerjee, our party is Trinamool and we have one symbol. I would urge all our partymen to face the civic polls united," he said. "Everyone can't be a candidate," he added.
The Trinamool leader also asked senior colleagues to sit with the ranks and resolve differences.
Trinamool seniors believe that the message from Banerjee on Monday will be a great help in tackling resentment in the districts. Prior to the Trinamool chief's announcement, disgruntled party workers led by outgoing councillor Ashina Parvin of Kamarhati Municipality's ward 5 staged a roadblock at Kamarhati More on BT Road after she was dropped from the list. RAF had to be deployed to tackle frequent blockades on BT Road in Khardah.
Gobordanga, too, saw protests after former municipality chairman Subhas Datta was denied a ticket.
In Hooghly's Baidyabati, Trinamool Champdani MLA Arindam Guin's supporters staged protests citing the instance of Maheshtala MLA Dulal Das, who got a civic poll ticket. They wanted Guin's name on the list.
