Didi to partymen: Don't stall projects or you'll be expelled

KOLKATA: In her strongest ever missive to party workers, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday that anyone stalling development work, including those by her government, would be thrown out of the party. The stern warning comes within 48 hours of the chief minister extending an olive branch to industry from the Singur stage.
Asking "smug" leaders to mend their ways and errant party workers to fall in line, Mamata said: " Kono gondogol bordasto korbe na dol, kono project e haath dile dol theke bar kore dewa hobe (the party will not tolerate any trouble; any interference in projects will lead to expulsion from the party)." She was addressing members of the Trinamool Congress' decision-making body at her residence on Friday.Last Monday, she had met all party MLAs so that the same message percolates down to the grassroots.
According to senior leaders, the CM has received repeated complaints of partymen "interfering" in key projects, including the 34 multi super-specialty hospitals, leading to time and cost overrun.
She has also received reports of local MLAs and their cohorts taking on government-empanelled contractors, fixing rates and stipulating from where they should procure construction material.
She has also received reports of local MLAs and their cohorts taking on government-empanelled contractors, fixing rates and stipulating from where they should procure construction material. It isn't just super-speciality hospitals that are facing problems. Even highway projects are facing roadblocks. A case in point is the Bankura-Birbhum state highway. "Ami kono rajnoitik hostokkhep bordasto korbo na (I will not tolerate any political interference)," Mamata Banerjee said.
If industry was the recurrent theme of her closed-door meet, the other was to cut some party leaders to size. A fuming Mamata singled out Arambagh MP Aparoopa Poddar, reminding her of her roots before the party handpicked her to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Poddar had reportedly slapped a person "for overtaking" her convoy near the Dankuni toll plaza. A complaint was made to the CMO and Poddar was cautioned. "Do you know that your acts have alienated a lot of our supporters?" Mamata asked.
The CM told her party leaders that their "conduct in public life" should be exemplary . The errant should "mend their ways" or they won't get nominations in the next elections, she said.
Angry over the continuing factionalism in Guskara Municipality , she gave Birbhum party president Anubrata Mondal just seven days to resolve the issue or the party leadership would "sort out the problem".
At the end of her interaction, she also expressed anger at the manner the EC has "unilaterally" published the provisional voter rolls without taking inputs from political parties. Mamata tasked MP Mukul Roy and Subrata Bakshi to take up the issue with the EC immediately.