The rift in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is deepening, so is the distance between poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s IPAC and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.

Even as four municipalities go to polls on February 12, the focus of Bengal politics is on the internal fight in the TMC. Banerjee has called an emergency meeting with senior leaders on Saturday, where the ‘one man one party’ campaign, which made its social media debut on Thursday evening, could be one of the topics of discussion.

An indication of the clash is IPAC’s tweet on Friday evening. I-PAC tweeted: “IPAC doesn’t handle any digital properties of @AITCofficial or any of its leaders. Anyone making such claim is either uninformed or is blatantly lying. AITC should look into if and how their digital properties and/or that of their leaders are being “allegedly (mis)used”.

It all began as one senior minister of Mamata’s cabinet Chandrima Bhattacharya attacked IPAC. While her Facebook profile showed that she too was supporting ‘one man one party’, Bhattacharya said: “IPAC use to handle my Facebook account, they have uploaded this without my permission. How could they do it? I have told the party and I will take up this matter.”

The blame game with IPAC, which started with the sudden uploading of candidates’ list from AITC account, seems to be still on. Some say the between IPAC’s contract with TMC upto 2026, too, may be over now.

ABHISHEK BANERJEE TO TAKE STRONG STEPS?

National general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had proposed the theory and it was accepted on June 5. However, he seems unhappy with the situation and the talk within the party is he may take some strong steps, say insiders.

The theory said that one man can only hold one post, with the discretionary power with Banerjee to defy it. This theory has become the point of friction inside the party, say insiders.

TMC leader Saugata Roy also batted for this theory last week, but was cautioned by party AITC Lok Sabha leader Sudip Banerjee.

In fact, the party, too, negated the campaign officially. Minister Firhad Hakim said, “This campaign is not endorsed by the party. It has four more lines to it. This theory can change, TMC Supremo has the power to change it.”

The Opposition is hitting out at the TMC in its own way. National convener of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) information and technology cell Amit Malviya tweeted: “Defeat in Nandigram significantly diminished Mamata Banerjee’s political stature. She is now being challenged by Abhishek Banerjee, her nephew, who is demanding one post one person in order to chop her clout. How soon before Mamata Banerjee loses control of the party and WB Govt?”

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