Kolkata: Seventy-one of the 80 newly elected Trinamool MLAs attended a meeting convened by party chief Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence on Wednesday, where she alleged that functionaries within her own party had “sabotaged” the assembly election, contributing to Trinamool’s defeat.“Some of our own people sabotaged us. We will examine all such allegations. A new disciplinary committee has been formed with Derek O’Brien, Firhad Hakim, Chandrima Bhattacharya and Asima Patra as members. They will look into the matter. We are forming three fact-finding committees. These teams will visit different parts of the state where there has been unrest,” a Trinamool senior quoted Banerjee as saying. All those who did not attend had informed in advance of their absence and a few were asked not to come, a source said.Among notable absentees was Kajal Sheikh, the debutant MLA from Hansan in Birbhum, who was asked to stay back after he informed that he was visiting the family of a party worker allegedly killed in post-poll violence in Nanoor. Madhyamgram MLA Rathin Ghosh was unwell, while others cited efforts to control unrest in their constituencies. Sagardighi MLA Bayron Biswas had a family medical emergency.Meanwhile, Trinamool issued an official clarification after some party MPs issued statements accepting the mandate. The party said the remarks were individual views and not the party’s official position.MP Shatrughan Sinha had written on May 5, “Let’s not get into the ‘why’ & ‘how’ they won — the role of Election Commission & other agencies?” Actor-MP Dev on Wednesday congratulated BJP, referring to it as the “people’s mandate”.“We respect people’s mandate. But I will not resign. This is our way of protest against the election process. I will not resign. Let them dismiss me. I want this to be a black day,” Banerjee said, urging her workers to wear black on the first day of the legislative assembly. The meeting was attended by Abhishek Banerjee and state president Subrata Bakshi.At the meeting, Banerjee criticised the vandalism of 1,500 TMC offices and a Lenin statue in Murshidabad. She praised Abhishek Banerjee’s role during the poll campaign calling on MLAs to give him a standing ovation. She added her party would move court as well as international forums if required.Banerjee also pointed out that the difference in vote share between BJP and TMC was only 30 lakh. “It’s almost the same number of people they had deleted by utting them under adjudication and logical discrepancies. On top of that, seven lakh names were added online.,” she said.She urged party netas to observe Rabindra Jayanti on May 9 — the day the new CM will take oath in the presence of PM Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah — by organising cultural programmes across the state, including in areas where party offices have been damaged.
