A churning in Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress is in progress ahead of next year’s assembly election in the state — one that envisages a new team in Delhi that will work closely with Abhishek Banerjee and help catapult it to a prominent spot within the INDIA bloc.

Sources said there is a growing perception that the image of Bengal and its ruling party are being tarnished in Delhi and there is a need for a matured leader who will be consistent and able to determine the party line.

Mr Banerjee is already leading the party in Delhi and is the party’s interlocutor with the INDIA bloc.

So Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee had planned a clean-up a part of which was to be announced at the Chief Minister’s online meeting with her MPs.

The meeting lasted only 12 minutes. But it took no time for it to go off script.

Result – the party’s chief whip Kalyan Bandopadhyay and its parliamentary party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay were out and Abhishek Bandopadhyay was announced the parliamentary party leader.

Sources said Mr Banerjee – the nephew of Mamata Banerjee who is widely seen as her political heir — wanted to remove Sudip Bandopadhyay and Kalyan Bandopadhyay from their posts.

The plan, though, was to tackle only Kalyan Bandopadhyay in today’s meeting.

But when the Chief Minister criticised Kalyan Bandopadhyay’s role and said Kakoli Dastidar was asked to take on more responsibility along with her current role as deputy leader — the veteran leader exploded and resigned. He also went public with a series of sharp comments.

That changed the scene somewhat and eventually Sudip Banerjee’s removal from the Lok Sabha post was announced by the party.

While both Mamata Banerjee and her nephew are said to displeased, Abhishek Banerjee — seen as the leader of the party’s young brigade — has extended an olive branch and promised he would meet Kalyan Banerjee when he comes to Delhi later this week.

He is expected to focus on national politics with special attention to issues linked to Bengal and people from the state. Mamata Banerjee will remain the party’s Chief Ministerial face. Ms Banerjee and her nephew – said to be in conflict at one point – are now on the same page again, indicates the current situation, sources said. The two even met recently.

What Kalyan Banerjee said

Kalyan Banerjee later told the media that he was being unfairly “blamed for poor coordination among MPs.”

“I have quit as the party’s chief whip in Lok Sabha as ‘Didi’ said during the virtual meeting that there is a lack of coordination among party MPs. So the blame is on me. Hence, I have decided to step down,” he said.

“Those whom Mamata Banerjee made MPs don’t even come to Lok Sabha. South Kolkata, Barrackpore, Bankura, North Kolkata… hardly anyone attends Parliament. What can I do? What is my fault? I am being blamed for everything,” he fumed.