TMC meet cancelled as 60 MLAs skip Mamata Banerjee call
Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress faced an uncomfortable moment on Monday after a scheduled meeting of its newly elected MLAs at Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence had to be called off due to poor attendance. Only around 20 of the party’s 80 MLAs reportedly reached the venue, while nearly 60 legislators stayed away a day after TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee was allegedly attacked.
The absence of nearly three-fourths of the MLAs immediately triggered political speculation. For any party, especially after a major political setback or violence involving top leadership, such low attendance at a meeting called by Mamata Banerjee is not a small issue. The TMC, however, moved quickly to control the narrative and said many legislators were occupied with ground-level protests and local developments following attacks on party leaders and workers.
TMC says MLAs were busy with protests
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said several MLAs could not attend because they were handling protests in their constituencies after the alleged attack on Abhishek Banerjee and a reported assault on party MP Kalyan Banerjee. Speaking outside Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence, Ghosh said the party had decided to intensify its protest campaign against the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government over alleged post-poll violence.
According to Ghosh, the meeting had been scheduled earlier, but developments on the ground forced many MLAs to stay back in their areas. He said police action against TMC workers had also kept some legislators busy, as they were helping party workers who had reportedly been detained or arrested.
Ghosh said the MLAs who could not come informed the legislative party about the situation and requested that the meeting be postponed. The party accepted the request and called off the meeting, even though nearly 20 legislators had already reached Kalighat for the 3 pm gathering. He added that the meeting would be held later and that revised details would be shared with all MLAs.
Party sources said Mamata Banerjee held informal discussions with the MLAs who were present. Still, the optics are difficult for the TMC. A meeting called at the residence of the party’s most powerful leader being cancelled due to low turnout gives rivals an easy political weapon, especially at a time when Bengal politics is already tense.
The party has now announced a fresh street-level campaign. TMC leaders have been asked to hold block-level rallies in rural areas and ward-level rallies in urban centres on Monday. These protests will focus on the alleged attacks on Abhishek Banerjee, Kalyan Banerjee and TMC workers. On Tuesday, the party will hold a day-long symbolic sit-in at Rani Rashmoni Road in Esplanade, with Mamata Banerjee expected to lead the protest.
Internal discomfort adds pressure on TMC
The situation became more sensitive after TMC MLA Sandipan Saha publicly explained why he skipped the meeting. Saha said he wanted clarity over the process followed in the appointment of the party leader, deputy leader and chief whip in the Assembly. According to him, a meeting on the issue had already been held and a resolution had been passed, but questions were later raised about whether proper procedures were followed before the resolution was submitted to the Assembly.
Saha said that because the matter was already under procedural scrutiny, he felt there was no point in attending another meeting without clarity. His statement is significant because public disagreement from within the TMC is rare, especially on internal party decisions related to Assembly leadership.
The TMC’s official line is that the absence of MLAs was linked to protests and ground-level political activity. But the combination of low attendance, procedural questions raised by an MLA and the sudden cancellation of the meeting makes the episode politically damaging. It gives the impression of either poor coordination or internal unease at a time when the party needs to project unity.
For Mamata Banerjee, the immediate challenge is to turn the focus back to the alleged attacks on party leaders and workers. The planned protests over the next two days are clearly designed to shift the public conversation from skipped MLAs to political violence and BJP government action.
For the BJP, however, the cancelled meeting offers a strong counter-narrative. It can argue that the TMC is struggling to keep its own legislators together after losing power. That is why the next few days will matter. If TMC’s protest programme gets strong participation, the party may recover momentum. But if more MLAs speak openly like Sandipan Saha, the skipped meeting could become a larger political headache.
The cancellation of the Kalighat meeting has exposed a weak spot for the Trinamool Congress. The party may call it a temporary postponement due to protests, but the political message is not easy to ignore: when 60 out of 80 MLAs skip a leadership meeting, the issue is bigger than scheduling.
