Jolt to Trinamool's UP unit as state chief resigns

Lucknow, May 3

The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) suffered a jolt after several members, including the state unit president, Neeraj Rai, resigned.

"Big leaders in the Trinamool Congress do not want the party to expand beyond West Bengal. The party's committed workforce in Uttar Pradesh is being side-lined and attempts are being made to disintegrate the state unit," Rai told reporters on Tuesday.

He, however, did not divulge his future plans.

The infighting within the party will hit Mamata Banerjee's plan to have a stronger presence in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The party had not contested the 2022 state elections but started ground level preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by raising a strong organisational setup in Uttar Pradesh.

The mass resignations, however, seem to have brought the party back to where it stood in Uttar Pradesh before May 2021, when Mamata won for the third time in West Bengal.

Mamata's win convinced the party workers that she is the only leader who can take on the saffron might. This emboldened Trinamool's workforce in Uttar Pradesh as well and it started making efforts to gain visibility.

The party's activities suddenly lost steam after October, when a team of senior leaders from the West Bengal unit of the party visited Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the families of the farmers who were mowed down by the vehicle of the son of Union minister of state for home.

Later, it was the West Bengal unit that took over the affairs. The Uttar Pradesh unit of the party was not even aware of Mamata's itinerary when she visited Lucknow to hold a joint virtual press conference with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.