Rivalry between TMC’s Birbhum heavyweights surfaces at Abhishek Banerjee’s meeting
Anubrat Mondal, a prime accused in the cattle smuggling case, was released on bail in September last year after spending two years in prison
KOLKATA: Differences between Anubrata Mondal and Kajal Sheikh, the two heavyweight leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Bengal’s Birbhum district, surfaced on Monday at a meeting convened by the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee at his Kolkata office, people aware of the matter said.
“Banerjee called members of the TMC Birbhum core committee, including the MLAs and MPs, to his office at Camac Street to discuss strategies for the 2026 assembly polls. During the discussions, Mondal got into an argument with Sheikh, who is widely seen as his arch rival,” a party leader said.
Banerjee intervened and underlined that all differences must be set aside in the interest of the party.
Mondal did not comment on the deliberations, but Sheikh played down their differences.
“In a family, a son can have differences with his mother. Brothers can have differences, too. At the end of the day, we are all family,” Kajal Sheikh told reporters.
Rampurhat legislator Asish Banerjee, TMC’s most senior leader in Birbhum, said: “There are no differences among us. Our national general secretary has charted our course of action. We will win all 11 assembly seats in Birbhum next year.”
Mondal, a prime accused in the cattle smuggling case, was released on bail in September last year following a two-year judicial custody at Delhi’s Tihar jail. His daughter, too, was arrested and lodged at Tihar.
Mondal was president of the TMC’s Birbhum unit for around 20 years but was removed from the post in May. During an organisational reshuffle, TMC formed a nine-member core committee for Birbhum, making Mondal a part of the committee. Mondal was appointed convenor of the committee and his security cover restored after his meeting with chief minister Mamata Banerjee in July.
A first information report was lodged against Mondal by the Birbhum district police on May 30 after an audio clip of a telephonic conversation, in which the TMC leader allegedly abused Liton Haldar, the then inspector-in-charge of Bolpur police station, turned up on social media. Mondal was recently granted anticipatory bail by a district court in this case.
