Kolkata, March 9 (IANS) A ten-member delegation of Trinamool Congress will meet the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Delhi on Tuesday (March 11) on the issue of bogus voters in West Bengal.
“We have sought appointment from the Commission in the matter, and finally, the 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday has been fixed as the date and time for the meeting on this crucial issue,” said one member of the delegation.
It is learnt that the ten-member delegation will be led by the leader of Trinamool Congress’ Parliamentary party in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien. The other nine MPs, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, are Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Kalyan Banerjee, Asit Kumar Mal, Sagarika Ghosh, Kirti Azad, Sazda Ahmed, Abu Taher Khan, Saket Gokhale and Prakash Chik Baraik,
However, political rumblings have started in the corridors of power in West Bengal over the absence of Trinamool Congress’ general secretary and the party Lok Sabha Abhishek Banerjee’s name in the list of delegates to meet with the full bench of the Commission.
Last week, Abhishek Banerjee did not even attend the crucial first meeting of Trinamool Congress’ internal core committee constituted by the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to screen the voters’ list in West Bengal and identify the bogus voters there, although his name was in the second position in the list of those core committee members.
Abhishek Banerjee is to address a virtual meeting on the same issues with all the district presidents and chairmen of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal on March 16. Now, the absence of his name in the list of the delegates to meet the ECI has again sparked political rumblings in the state.
His absence at the first core committee meeting on March 6 kindled speculation in the political circles about the continuing and simmering internal cold war within the Trinamool over the issue of “fresh blood” and the “old guard” in leadership positions.
–IANS
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