Fresh and young faces were appointed in different important posts of the Trinamul Congress in north Bengal as the party made sweeping organisational changes across the state on Monday.
The changes hinted that Trinamul wanted to bank on communities like Rajbanshis, adivasis and Muslims in north Bengal.
In north Bengal, the most discernible selections were of new district presidents of Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling (plains). While Mohua Gope, who hails from the small hamlet of Lataguri, was elevated as the Jalpaiguri district chief, Papiya Ghosh, the daughter of former minister Rabindranath Ghosh (who is based in Cooch Behar), will head Trinamul in the plains of Darjeeling.
Papiya, who is in her mid-thirties, is a homemaker and stays in Bagdogra.
Alok Chakraborty, a veteran trade union leader who had quit the Congress and joined Trinamul ahead of the Assembly elections, is now the Darjeeling (plains) district chairman.
Only Kanhaialal Agarwala, the district president of North Dinajpur, could save his post.
In Cooch Behar, the party has brought in Girindranath Barman, a researcher who has worked a lot on Panchanan Burma — the most revered statesman of the Rajbanshis — in the district president’s post.
Partha Pratim Roy, who was removed from the post, has been made the chairman of the North Bengal State Transport Corporation, which is headquartered in Cooch Behar.
“The selection of new office-bearers in Cooch Behar district clearly shows that the party is keen on reviving the support of Rajbanshis, whose support decides the results in around 20 of 54 Assembly seats in north Bengal,” said a political observer.
In Alipurduar district, the party has appointed Prakash Chik Baraik, a youth from Kumargram, in the president’s post, while Mridul Goswami, who was in the post, has been made the new district chairman. Also, youths like Louis Kuzur and Pasang Lama have been made presidents of different blocks in the district which has a sizeable tribal and Gorkha population.
In the hills, however, the “one person one post” policy has not been applied. This is because Shanta Chhetri, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from the hills, has been made the new Darjeeling (hills) president.
In South Dinajpur, Ujwal Basak, a retired schoolteacher, has been made the new district president. In Malda, Abdur Rahim Boxi, the Trinamul MLA of Malatipur, has replaced Mausam Benazir Noor as the district president.
The party has also brought in Chandana Sarkar, a young MLA of Baishnabnagar, in the post of party’s youth president in the district.
Additional reporting by Main Uddin Chisti in Cooch Behar