In yet another setback to former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, TMC’s state chief Chandrima Bhattacharya today resigned from all party positions, even withdrawing herself as the person authorised to represent the party before the Election Commission.
Hours after she shot off her resignation letter to Mamata, Chandrima was seen attending a meeting with the rebels in the Assembly chamber of the Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee.
Chandrima, however, denied serious engagement with the dissidents and said she had gone to the Assembly for work and sat in Ritabrata’s chamber as she could not have gone to the room allotted to the ruling party.
“So, I sat in the room of the Opposition party,” she said. Her resignation came just a month after appointment. Chandrima, an ex-minister who looked after finance and health portfolios and enjoyed Mamata’s confidence, was named Bengal TMC chief in place of Subrata Bakshi.
In a letter to Mamata today, Chandrima said she had withdrawn herself as authorised signatory of the TMC in relation to all bank matters also.
Asked why she resigned, Chandrima said Mamata recently phoned her and castigated her for something she had not done.
“I was blamed for handing over to the rebel faction Trinamool Bhavan, party’s operational headquarters, whereas I had nothing to do with this,” Chandrima said.
Chandrima was present at her office when the Ritabrata-led group walked into Trinamool Bhavan on Friday, held a meeting there and then changed locks and left declaring they would henceforth use the space for gatherings.
Chandrima had left the premises after the rebels came that day.
“I was deeply hurt when she (Mamata Banerjee) called me to say I have handed over the party office to the dissidents. I do not know how. My loyalty was questioned. This has never happened before,” Chandrima said justifying her exit.
Mamata has since named Derek O Brien TMC’s authorised person before the EC. Prior to Chandrima’s exit from the TMC, 58 party rebels led by Ritabrata had declared themselves the real Trinamool and claimed control of the party, declaring their own organisational structure.
Later, Sudip Bandopadhyay and Kakoli Ghosh led a rebellion against Mamata in the Lok Sabha with 20 MPs signing off on a merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and declaring support to the BJP-led NDA in the House.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will decide on the petitions by TMC rebels in the House and a parallel claim by the TMC led by Abhishek Banerjee. The Abhishek led group has challenged the rebels to resign and face fresh elections on the symbol of the party they wish to join and represent.
