Major TMC reshuffle amid turmoil: Arnab Banerjee, Kunal Ghosh appointed presidents

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NEW DELHI: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday announced a major organisational reshuffle in West Bengal, appointing Arnab Banerjee as the new state Trinamool Youth Congress president and Kunal Ghosh as North Kolkata organisational district president, as the party moved to strengthen its structure following a rebellion by around 20 of its MLAs.The changes were approved at the party’s national working committee meeting, where new appointments were also made across key organisational wings. Mosarraf Hossain was named president of the minority cell, while Alifa Ahmed was appointed president of the party’s women’s wing.Addressing reporters after the meeting, TMC MP Saugata Roy said the party had reconstituted parts of its leadership and removed leaders who had left the organisation.”Today, we had the national working committee meeting. Myself and Jyotipriya Mallick were included in the committee. The people who have defected have been weeded out. We have a new youth president – Arnab Banerjee, Mahila president – Alifa Ahmed. Kunal Ghosh has been selected president of the North Kolkata. Mosarraf Hossain has been made president of the minority cell. The main thing is, this meeting condemned the atrocities on the TMC workers who are being harassed, beaten up and their offices burnt. So, we condemned that. We condemned that 4000 EVMs were burnt. I must also mention that people joined on the Zoom from outside were Mahua Moitra, Biman Banerjee and others. It was a full meeting.”Roy said the meeting also passed resolutions condemning alleged attacks on TMC workers and the destruction of electronic voting machines during recent unrest.According to Roy, several senior leaders, including Mahua Moitra and Biman Banerjee, participated virtually in the meeting.The reshuffle comes amid internal turmoil within the ruling party after around 20 TMC legislators reportedly rebelled, fuelling speculation about the party’s organisational stability and future course.According to reports, 19 of the 20 breakaway TMC MPs submitted their names to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s Office on May 18.The MPs named by sources are Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Satabdi Roy, Bapi Haldar, Dr Sharmila Sarkar, Prasun Bandyopadhyay, Jagadish Barma Basunia, Asit Kumar Mal, Arup Chakraborty, Rachna Banerjee, Saayoni Ghosh, Khalilur Rahaman, Abu Taher Khan, Yusuf Pathan, Mitali Bag, Mala Roy, Kalipada Soren, Deepak Adhikari, June Malia and Partha Bhowmick.The reported rebellion triggered intense speculation over the future of the party and prompted discussions about a possible reorganisation of its leadership structure. TMC leaders have sought to project unity in recent weeks, while simultaneously moving to fill key organisational positions and replace leaders who have either defected or distanced themselves from the party.