Some people are trying to sabotage TMC, it won't be tolerated, says Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: Amid speculation of growing chasm between her and the party’s senior leader Mukul Roy, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged some leaders are trying to sabotage the party from within. “Some (party leaders) are trying to sabotage. It will not be tolerated. Working against the interests of the party while remaining in the party will not be allowed,” Banerjee was quoted by party insiders as telling a meeting. [caption id=“attachment_2109869” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mamata Banerjee. AFP[/caption] “No need to think of who is coming in the party and who is leaving. You should work sincerely,” she was quoted as saying by a TMC MLA who was present at the meeting and did not want to be named. The party’s base is strong and no one has the power to create a crack in it, the Chief Minister said in the meeting convened in the Assembly premises ahead of the budget session which began today with the Governor’s address. Using her regular pre-session meeting to send a message to party dissenters, she told the MLAs not to go to the media to air their personal grievances. “Do not go to the media to air your personal views. If you have anything to say regarding legislative business, talk to Chief Whip Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay and Subrata Bakshi (the new additional general secretary) regarding party affairs,” she said. “We have to remain with the people. We have to be humble. We should not be arrogant,” she said adding, there should be no compromise with regard to honesty, transparency and accountability. After her party’s resounding victory in two bypolls last week, Banerjee had said no one can divide TMC. Mukul Roy, the Rajya Sabha MP who was considered no 2 in the party, was left out in the cold in a recent organisational reshuffle carried out by Banerjee. Roy is officially still the party’s All India General Secretary but a sign of clipping his wings was seen when she appointed an additional general secretary for the first time. CBI had questioned Roy on January 30 in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam and he had skipped the meeting where the organisational changes were effected. His post-interrogation remark that “justice should not be denied” to the poor who had lost their savings in the scam appeared to contradict his party’s stand that the BJP government was using CBI as a ‘political tool’ against TMC. Amid reports of Roy planning to split the party, Banerjee had on Monday asked a reporter to direct his question on her one-time second-in-command to any block level president. Denying speculations that he would float a separate party, Roy had on Sunday said he would continue to work for TMC. PTI