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Expectedly, Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's eagerness to allot assembly tickets to the legislators who dumped the Congress for the Trinamul Congress recently has backfired.
Discordant notes were heard soon after Mamata released the list of party candidates for the assembly elections, due in April this year.
While disgruntled elements, visibly disappointed over being 'marginalised' by the Trinamul chief, vented their ire on party leaders, there were a few who refused to contest the forthcoming polls from the allotted seat.
Idris Ali, who has been given Baduria seat in North 24-Parganas, went on record expressing his resentment against Mamata's decision. He told rediff.com that he would never contest from a seat where he knows he would suffer an ignominious defeat.
An enraged Ali added, "Every body in political circles knows that I have worked all my life in De Ganga in North 24-Parganas. I had requested the party leadership to let me contest from De Ganga, but was shocked to see my name against Baduria seat."
"Although, I am not going to speak against either Mamata Banerjee or the party, I have decided not to contest from the allotted seat," he said.
Close on the heels of Ali's outpourings, a group of party activists from Nadia district mobbed senior leader Pankaj Banerjee soon after he emerged out of the Calcutta Press Club, where Mamata announced the candidates' list before a packed crowd.
The peeved activists bluntly accused Banerjee of sabotaging the party's electoral interests.
A disgruntled Trinamul leader told rediff.com that the Trinamul had struck a clandestine deal with the Congress in Nadia district.
"They have refrained from fielding local leaders in a bid to ensure the victory of Congress candidates. The leadership has accepted exorbitant sums from individuals in exchange for the party's endorsement. If this is the state of affairs, only God can save the Trinamul Congress," he remarked.
Mamata, however, rubbished the charges saying that it was not possible for her to appease every individual.
"I have tried to keep everyone happy. Yet, if some feel that I have meted out injustice to them, I really can't help. Let them grumble, I have nothing to say," Mamata added.
Trinamul leader and Calcutta Municipal Corporation Mayor Subrata Mukherjee told rediff.com that disgruntled party workers were making baseless allegations.
He ridiculed the accusations that those who broke away from the Congress recently had been rewarded with election tickets saying everybody in the Trinamul was a former Congressman.
"There are innumerable constraints in alliance politics. It's not fair to point fingers at the leadership without taking all reasonable factors into consideration," Mukherjee explained.
Banerjee said that the party had taken special care to give maximum representation to the minorities, especially Muslims and women. Muslims constitute 20% of the candidates while 12% of the seats have gone in favour of women.
The Trinamul has left 39 seats for the Bhartiya Janata Party, eight for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Soren), six for Kamtapuri Peoples' Party, one each for the Samata Party and the Biplabi Bangla Congress.
The Trinamul will not contest two seats in Malda, where senior Congress leader A B A Ghani Khan Choudhary's sister Ruby Noor and Abu Hasanat Khan Chowdhury are contesting on Congress tickets.
Mamata said that the party would decide on seven other seats later.
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