Manas fails to win all in Sabang

Sabang: Manas Bhuiyan may be in a hurry to "wipe out memories" and begin a "second innings" in Trinamool Congress, but his homecoming on Monday - five months after he got a decisive mandate here - proved it wouldn't be easy. Nor is it going to happen soon. The 65-year-old leader, 46 of whose years were spent with Congress, now faces a tough task of not only overcoming his legal woes, but also a reticent local Trinamool leadership.
Bhuiyan wanted his Sabang panchayat samiti meeting (as the local MLA, he is an ex-officio member) to be a low-key affair, but the exuberance of his supporters eager to see him after months, betrayed his plans. The leader refused a 200-motorcycle escort to Sabang, but accepted the 5kg marigold garland. He referred to chief minister Mamata Banerjee as "mother" and Abhishek Banerjee as "a fresh and upcoming leader" in his speech. However, no senior local Trinamool leader was present on the dais to listen that.
A few, like Trinamool's West Midnapore district president Ajit Maiti and zilla parishad karmadhyaksha Nirmal Ghosh, did turn up, others . But apart from them (and Ramaprasad Giri and Saibal Giri) others remained conspicuous by their absence. Trinamool's influential Sabang leader Amulya Maiti was seated mere meters away in the Sabang BDO office, but chose not to attend Bhuiyan's programme. "This (public) meeting wasn't approved by the party's block unit. I don't know why the district party leaders had gone there, but I, along with the party's Sabang block president Prabhat Maiti, didn't go," he said.
Maiti, also a zilla parishad karmadhyaksha, has been instrumental in nurturing the party in Sabang since its formation in 1998.
The party's district president said, "It is time to usher in a new era where the old and new unite and take the battle against Congress and CPM forward. Manasbabu's induction will infuse more potency in the party rank and file. Let us forget the past and script a new future." Maiti's absence, however, proved it wasn't going to easy going ahead.
Bhuiyan, however, chose to overlook the fact that a lot of senior leaders did not attend his event and focused his attention on the people instead.
"I may not have been here, but I tried to do all I could. I tried to dispatch the signed certificates in time," he told the audience. "It is with a lot of pain that I severed links with Congress. I had wept. But I was thrown out of the party.I am for development. My personal wellbeing doesn't matter as long as every drop of it is spent to serve people"