THE presence of several TMC leaders considered close to Mamata Banerjee at Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s administrative review meeting on Wednesday added a fresh political layer to the turbulence engulfing the Opposition party, which is battling its biggest internal revolt since losing power in West Bengal. TMC MLAs Nayana Bandyopadhyay, Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, Ashok Deb and Kunal Ghosh -- regarded as longtime loyalists of Banerjee -- attended the administrative meeting at Nabanna, even as the party’s legislative wing appeared headed for an unprecedented split.

 

Interestingly, several leaders identified with the Kalighat leadership -- including Hakim, Bandyopadhyay, Deb and Ghosh -- stayed away from the Assembly meeting and instead attended the Chief minister’s administrative meeting. Just days earlier, senior TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, along with six party MLAs, had attended an administrative review meeting convened by Adhikari at Kalyani, sparking speculation about changing equations within Opposition camp in the aftermath of poll debacle.