Ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections 2021, things are going sideways for the incumbent Trinamool Congress Party (TMC). The party is facing an unprecedented crisis, bordering on implosion, as its leaders are rebelling and resigning in protest. Days ago, minister Laxmi Ratan Shukla resigned from his post and now another TMC MLA Vaishali Dalmiya, a close friend of Sourav Ganguly, has opened a front against the party.
Vaishali is a close family friend of cricketer Sourav Ganguly and the daughter of late cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya. Trinamool MLA from Bally Assembly Constituency, Vaishali has raised concerns about the state of affairs in the Trinamool Congress.
Party termites eating up TMC from the inside: Vaishali Dalmiya
Vaishali has attributed the current predicament of the party to the pervasive corruption that it failed to rein in. She said TMC is suffering losses due to corruption and corruption is eating up the party like termites.
In an interview with India TV, Vaishali revealed that hers is a voice shouting in the wilderness for the last three years about the prevalent corruption in her constituency.
Dalmiya’s statements comes days after former cricketer and West Bengal Minister of State (MoS) for Sports and Youth Affairs Laxmi Ratan Shukla resigned from the Mamata Banerjee-led state cabinet. Shukla is MLA from Howrah North. She said that she is feeling bad on Shukla’s resignation, adding that he was doing a good job.
Speaking on his disenchantment with party workers, Dalmiya said in an interview to India Today that she is not angry with the party functioning but with the stonewalling of work by the TMC party members.
“There are people in the Trinamool Congress who do not have any love lost for party workers, who don’t love the people of the state, they just love themselves. They are termites who are eating up the party from within. These are people who do not fight with other parties but fight with people within. They do not even love Mamata Banerjee,” Dalmiya said.
Speculations rife that Vaishali will be joining the BJP
The Bally MLA’s unabashed criticism of the party workers have spawned rumours of her joining the BJP. Vaishali has put paid to the rumours saying that she doesn’t intend to join the saffron party.
“I will continue to work for the people. I have been called non-political many times. So be it. I will continue to work with people, stand with them,” Vaishali said.
The rumbling by another TMC MLA holds significance, considering that it has come at a time when the party is already reeling from the exit of party heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, along with 6 other MLAs, and most recently with the resignation of the TMC minister Laxmi Ratan Shukla.
Pervasive rumours of Sourav Ganguly joining the BJP
The fact that Vaishali Dalmiya shares close relationship with legendary cricketer Sourav Ganguly has also served to add to the rumours of her joining the BJP.
Ever since BJP racked up an impressive 18 of the total 42 seats in West Bengal in the 2019 General elections, not a single day has passed with speculations of Sourav Ganguly joining the BJP and be its chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming state elections.
Sourav Ganguly himself is known to share a cordial relationship with Amit Shah and his son Jay Shah, who is the Secretary of BCCI. Dona Ganguly, the cricketer’s wife who is a well-known classical dancer, was seen performing at BJP Mahila Morcha’s Durga Puja in Kolkata.
Ganguly, who suffered a minor heart attack earlier this month, has been ambiguous in answering the questions about him joining the BJP. His equivocal responses on whether he is joining the BJP or not has also fuelled the speculations of a “Dada vs Didi” showdown in the forthcoming assembly elections.
