The broadside came hours after veteran TMC MLA Madan Mitra formally joined the dissident camp led by Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, adding to the escalating rebellion against the Mamata Banerjee-Abhishek Banerjee leadership. Mondal is already a part of the rebel group.
“Why did I go to jail? For whom did I go to jail? I went to jail because of Abhishek Banerjee,” Mondal told reporters while heading to a meeting of the Ritabrata-led faction.
Claiming that former chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had called him four times after the TMC’s crushing defeat in the assembly polls, the former Birbhum district strongman said he had advised her to “listen with your ears, not your eyes” and remove Abhishek from the party’s leadership structure.
“I told her: ‘You don’t see with your eyes, hear with your ears. Correct yourself. Remove Abhishek from the party,'” he claimed.
Mondal, arrested by the CBI in the multi-crore cattle smuggling case in August 2022 and later lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail before securing bail in July 2024, alleged that his imprisonment was the consequence of decisions taken by Abhishek, without elaborating on the basis of the charge.
The remarks marked a significant escalation in the internal war of the TMC, with the rebellion increasingly centring on Abhishek’s leadership rather than directly targeting Mamata Banerjee.The timing of Madan Mitra’s defection has drawn attention as the Enforcement Directorate summoned his wife and two sons on Tuesday in connection with the alleged municipal recruitment scam. TMC leaders loyal to Mamata Banerjee have alleged that central agencies were being used to pressure leaders into deserting the party.
Mondal rejected such suggestions in his case, insisting he had not changed sides because of any investigation.
“Those are baseless allegations. I am not afraid of such matters,” he said.
Once the undisputed political heavyweight of Birbhum district, Mondal had steadily lost organisational influence after returning from jail. His differences with district leader Kajal Sheikh became public, and he repeatedly complained of being kept away from election management and campaign responsibilities during the assembly polls.
However, both Sheikh and Mondal have now joined the rebel TMC camp.
Following the TMC’s defeat, Mondal had already blamed Abhishek and the election strategist I-PAC for the party’s collapse, alleging that tickets were influenced by money. On Wednesday, he took the attack a step further by holding Abhishek personally responsible for his imprisonment.
Mondal also predicted that Mitra’s exit would not be the last.
“Soon, nobody will remain with Mamata Banerjee. Everyone will leave that camp,” he said.
Even as senior leaders continued to desert or attack the leadership, Mamata Banerjee publicly closed ranks behind her nephew.
In a live address earlier in the day, she dismissed the criticism of Abhishek as a convenient excuse for those quitting the party.
“You are making Abhishek the excuse because he is your mirror. If, in your eyes, he has committed any mistake, all his mistakes stand forgiven. He is fighting like a tiger,” she said.
Recalling that both Abhishek and his wife had repeatedly appeared before central agencies despite sustained investigations, Mamata said they could have “compromised” if they had wished, but chose not to.
