Bengal Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury on Tuesday made a startling claim regarding the ongoing struggle for power between the Old and the New in the Trinamool Congress saying the internal strife in the Bengal ruling outfit was being “scripted in the BJP party office.”

Further he said “it will not be surprising if the BJP after breaking the TMC will project Abhishek Banerjee as the compromise Chief Ministerial candidate,” after the 2024 general elections. Because the BJP wanted to play a Maharashtra like game in Bengal the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation had stymied down,he concluded.

“Whatever you are seeing in the name of infighting between Mamata Banerjee group and the Abhishek Banerjee group --- being projected as Old-versus-New conflict --- was scripted last year when Bhaipo (read Abhishek Banerjee) was grilled by the ED for nine hours … it was in that session he was sounded out about the whole screenplay” where he would be exonerated in all the scam related cases in lieu of splitting the TMC and letting the BJP form a Government in the State, Chowdhury said adding “Abhishek Banerjee has no other option but to split theTMC for which the present drama is being played.”

Another PCC leader Soumya Aich reminded at this juncture how even in a recent organisational meeting the BJP workers had stunned the central leadership including Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda, wondering as to when Abhishek Banerjee whose name recently surfaced in the recruitment scam would be arrested.

Cut to the “drama” referred to by Chowdhury. Unprecedented infighting continued in the TMC with both the apparent backers of Abhishek Banerjee --- who besides being the nephew of the Chief Minister also the party general secretary --- junior leaders demanded a bigger role for the junior Banerjee and larger space for the younger generation while the senior leaders like Sudip Bandopadhyay, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Saugato Roy and Firhad Hakim vehemently defended the cause of the old guards.

“A TMC or for that matter Bengal cannot be thought off without Mamata Banerjee at the helm … all the attention Bengal gets nationally today is due to Mamata Banerjee … so she will continue to lead the party and the State for many years to come,” Bandopadhyay said.Hakim in his turn said that there was no bickering in the TMC as “Mamata Banerjee is still at the helm and the harness is still in her hands … she is our leader, we are her foot soldiers and things will continue to be so as long as she desires,” adding, “there is no bickering in the party … everything is being generated by the media.”

Another old guard and minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhay however conceded that there were bickering in all the parties and “such differences had existed before, they do exist and they will continue to exist in future … but the thing is that Mamata Banerjee is the leader and like she has led us to victory on three successive occasions … she will continue to do so in future too.” Even in the BJP infighting existed but that did not mean that the party was breaking, he said.

Junior leaders like Soham Chakrabarty and Riju Dutta on the other hand shot off significant tweets stating “it is impossible to win battles without a commander-in-chief.” North 24 Parganas MLA Narayan Goswami on the other hand advised updating of the soft-wares. “Old soft-wares cannot run the system and have to be up-dated … if you don’t do so you will the

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh however struck a compromising note saying “while Mamata Banerjee is our supreme leader Abhishek Banerjee is our commander-in-chief,” adding it is necessary to carry to the people the message of Mamata Banerjee and her pro-people schemes which can be efficiently done by none other than Abhishek Banerjee.”

Meanwhile, the junior Banerjee who had of late restricted himself to his parliamentary constituency at Diamond Harbour seldom taking part in party programmes in other parts of the State on Monday evening met his aunt at her Kalighat residence for more than two hours. What transpired between the two is not known but insiders surmised the duo would soon come out in the open asking the workers to jointly launch their battle against the BJP.