24 yrs since TMC birth, Didi grows stronger

Kolkata: TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who recently quashed a brewing internal rebellion with the iron-fisted rejig of the party's national working committee, established once again that she was the sole commander in her camp, and no one, including her heir-apparent Abhishek Banerjee, was fit to challenge her dominion.

In TMC's 24-year journey, the Bengal chief minister, who has earned herself the image of a gutsy leader, always made swift comebacks with greater ferocity as and when some leaders in her coterie revolted, and this time was no exception as she barely dithered to clip Abhishek's wings amid the internal strife between old guard and fresh blood.

According to sources in the party, the recent power struggle that had roots in her backyard, with the increasing demand for a definite retirement age and the 'one person-one post' policy, was aimed at phasing out the old guard to make space for young leaders handpicked by Abhishek.

A section of leaders claimed that junior Banerjee was "misguided" by political consultant Prashant Kishor and his I-PAC team, roped in to boost the party's prospects in elections. The feisty TMC boss, in her bid to stave off the growing rebellion, quickly dissolved the national-level folios, and formed a new working committee with just 20 members, thereby effectively leaving her as the only person capable of calling the shots in her camp. — PTI