Mamata Banerjee will lay down the road map for the Trinamul ahead of the Assembly polls next year at a meeting on Thursday as Bengal’s ruling party tries to address the challenges it faces from within.

Election after election since the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, which marked resurgence of the Trinamul in Bengal, Mamata has been unchallenged overcoming anything that has been thrown at her.

Most Trinamul leaders are confident of Mamata’s returning to power for a fourth time with a thumping majority, but scratch the surface a little and the problems that the party has in its folds appear.

“Being in power for 15 long years, the Trinamul has accumulated a lot of flab. The party needs to hit the gym immediately,” said a Trinamul leader close to Mamata.

It is widely expected that Mamata will roll out a list of dos and don’ts for the party leadership and functionaries, like she has done in the past before every crucial election.

The main Opposition in the state, the BJP, is clueless about how to go forward. The party’s Bengal unit is without a full-time head and a hunt is on for a person to lead the party into next year’s Assembly polls.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari met with two BJP national leaders, B.L. Santosh and Bengal prabhaari Sunil Bansal, in Delhi on Tuesday to discuss the possible new state party president.

“Corruption does not hold any significance to the voters. If Trinamul can ride over the infighting there is nothing to challenge it,” said political analyst Subhamoy Maitra. “If the BJP pushes the Hindutva agenda too hard, the Trinamul stands to gain. The Hindu middle class and lower middle class would prefer to vote for the Trinamul or even the CPM to keep peace.”

The Congress and the Left which have been steadily bleeding on both leaders and voters are yet to find a narrative that would strike a chord with the Bengal’s electorate.

“Virtually there is no Opposition in Bengal,” said a Trinamul leader. “The BJP is limited to certain pockets. Our main problem is to deal with the infighting and the charges of corruption that have been levelled against some of our ministers and leaders in the last several years.”

After Mamata’s stunning triumph in the 2021 Assembly elections when she overcame defections from the party to the BJP, several ministers, MLAs and people perceived to be close to the party have spent considerable time behind bars.

Out on bail Trinamul leaders like Anubrata Mondal of Birbhum and Jyotipriya Mullick of North 24-Parganas have given a fillip to the organisation, but it has also brought to surface sharp differences within the ruling party.

About a week ago supporters of Mondal and his arch-rival Kajal Sheikh had hurled bombs at each other in Khoyrasole block of Birbhum’s Jamalpur over alleged spoils from illegal sand-mining.

“This conflict between Kajal Sheikh and Mondal is nothing new,” claimed BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul. “Under Mamata Banerjee’s rule, Bengal has turned into a breeding ground for bombs, bullets and guns. Mamata’s police behave like puppets and shield criminals while the Trinamul interferes in law enforcement. Next year’s election will be the end of Trinamul’s rule.”

Mullick, who is close to Mamata, is seen as a rival by the two state ministers, Partha Bhowmik and Sujit Bose. Bhowmik shares a close rapport with Camac Street, where the party’s general secretary and Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee has his office.

In the just concluded Assembly session the state power minister Aroop Biswas, among the few closest to Mamata within the Trinamul, had questioned why the Rasbehari MLA Debashish Kumar went to the Mahakumbh without informing the party.

In Nadia, barring one MLA, Tapas Saha from Tehatta, all the others are opposed to the district chief and Krishnagar MP Mahua Moitra.

In neighbouring Murshidabad, the Trinamul old-timers are unhappy with the district head and Kandi MLA Apurba Sarkar.

“There are factional feuds but it is unlikely that any of them would seriously attempt to undermine the party and work actively to get an official nominee defeated,” said a Trinamul leader, admitting that some instances of sabotage have happened in the past elections.

The Abhishek factor

For over a month, Abhishek has kept himself confined to the Sevashray scheme that offers healthcare services to the constituents of his Lok Sabha seat, Diamond Harbour, bypassing the state health service – a portfolio held by Mamata.

Abhishek is believed to be sulking as his suggestions on organisational reshuffle were ignored by Mamata, who has made it clear the final organisational decisions lie with her.

To compound Abhishek’s troubles the chargesheet filed by the CBI in the teachers’ recruitment scam mentions one Abhishek Banerjee without clarifying his identity.

“It has been further revealed from the conversation that there was a rift between Abhishek Banerjee and accused Partha Chatterjee on the issue of illegal appointment and accused Sujoy Krishna Bhadra was heard saying that Abhishek Banerjee had demanded Rs 15 crore for the illegal appointment already done and when Sujay Krishna Bhadra express [sic] his inability to collect more money since the candidates had already paid Rs 6.5 lakh each then Abhishek Banerjee told Sujay to stop their appointment or he would get these candidates arrested or get the candidates posted at distant places,” the chargesheet says.

While the MP himself has been silent, his lawyer issued a statement on his behalf saying the chargesheet filed by the CBI had made “misleading and unsubstantiated” claims.

Mamata is expected to take up the cudgels on behalf of her nephew though that does not take away the differences that the aunt and the nephew have over how to run the party.

While Abhishek has time and again raised the issue of age-limit in politics followed by political rivals like the BJP and the CPM, Mamata wants the Trinamul’s tried and tested hands like Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Subrata Bakshi, Firhad Hakim and Aroop Biswas to work in tandem with leaders backed by Abhishek.

Till last year’s Lok Sabha polls, Mamata’s strategy has done the trick for the Trinamul, putting the party miles ahead of any other party in the state.

“Our task will be to take the development programmes that Mamata di has launched to every voter at the booth level and counter the fake narrative that is being built around Bengal,” said Trinamul spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.

The Trinamul has another perception battle to fight. In the complementary communal politics being played out in Bengal, the Trinamul is being singled out by the BJP for appeasing minority votes.

On Sunday when the Indian cricket team defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in a Champions Trophy group match, Mamata sent out a congratulatory post on X.

She has cleared the decks for the construction of a Jagannath Temple at Digha, which will be inaugurated soon. She has also been vocal about the mismanagement in the ongoing Mahakumbh and demanded monetary compensation for those killed while attending the religious event.