In a sudden development that the Opposition parties called a ploy to divert the people’s attention from deteriorating law and order situation and frequent High Court orders directing CBI investigation into recruitment scams the Trinamool Congress has floated the name of party general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee as the successor of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Celebrating the anniversary of the party’s third consecutive win in the last year’s Assembly elections TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that Abhishek who is also the nephew of the Chief Minister would succeed her in the year 2036.
Speaking about the 35-year-old junior Banerjee Ghosh wrote in a media post, “being a Trinamool Congress soldier, I can say that Mamata Banerjee will be the Chief Minister of Bengal till 2036. And in 2036, Abhishek Banerjee will become the Chief Minister in a programme where she will remain present as his guardian.”
He also said that “Mamata Banerjee will set a precedent in India by breaking Jyoti Basu's record as Chief Minister,” adding however that Abhishek’s coronation could be brought forward “should Mamata Banerjee has to leave to discharge bigger responsibilities.”
While Ghosh said this on Monday, his party colleague and MP Aparupa Poddar said that Abhishek Banerjee could become the Chief Minister as early as in 2024 “when Mamata Banerjee is selected to become the Prime Minister of the country with the ouster of the BJP from power.”
She said “why to wait for so long for Abhishek da to become the Chief Minister … why cannot he become the Chief Minister as early as when Mamata didi becomes the Prime Minister.”
Even as the Opposition BJP saw in the tweets a design to divert the attention of the State from deteriorating law and order situation and CBI investigations into recruitment scams ahead of the next year’s panchayat elections, Left leadership said that the statements proved diminishing power of the old guards in the ruling TMC.
“It proves that Abhishek Banerjee lobby cannot wait for long … they are trying to shove the Chief Minister and her old guards out soon … we are waiting to see a circus,” said CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakrabarty.
BJP State president Sukanto Majumdar however said that junior Banerjee could well become the Chief Minister if his party wins and “if he comes out scot free from the cattle and coal smuggling charges.”
The Congress on the other hand said that the TMC statement was a device to convince the minorities that Mamata Banerjee indeed had a hope in Delhi and that they should vote for her in 2024. This, at a time when the TMC was expecting erosion in its minority vote bank which might move towards the Left and the Congress in the years to
come.