KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by Mamata Banerjee from her Kalighat residence, was weakened further in terms of its organisational strength after suffering a crushing defeat to the BJP in the recent Assembly elections in the state.
The setback came with the resignations of Manish Gupta, a former minister in her Cabinet, and Rukkini alias Koyel Mallick, who quit as a Rajya Sabha MP of the TMC, on Thursday. This came a day after Madan Mitra, party MLA and one of Mamata's trusted lieutenants, left the party and joined the rebel camp led by Ritabrata Banerjee, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly, on Wednesday.
Gupta, a former Chief Secretary in the previous Left Front government led by the then Marxist Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, announced his resignation from the Trinamool Congress belonging to the Mamata Banerjee faction to the media on Thursday, five days ahead of the party’s annual ‘Martyrs’ Day’ rally on July 21 in front of the Birla Planetarium.
The rally commemorates the 13 youths who were killed in police firing during a protest march organised by Mamata Banerjee, then Youth Congress president of Bengal, on July 21, 1993.
Gupta, a former Power Minister in the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet, has not yet tendered his resignation officially to her.
As a former Chief Secretary, Gupta had ordered the police firing on the protesters, but he joined the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata after his retirement.
Mamata fielded him on a Trinamool ticket against former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya from the Jadavpur Assembly constituency in the 2011 Assembly elections in the state.
He was made the state's Power Minister in the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet in 2011, when the CPI(M)-led Left Front was voted out of power in the state.
Gupta’s decision to quit the Trinamool Congress is significant at a time when the Mamata faction is virtually losing its political relevance as a significant force because of the formation of the dissident group of rebel MLAs led by Ritabrata and the resignations of 20 Lok Sabha MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and three Rajya Sabha MPs – Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Susmita Deb and Prakash Chik Baraik.
The 21 rebel MPs led by Ghosh Dastidar have merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), showing support to the BJP-led NDA in Parliament.
The three Rajya Sabha MPs have joined the BJP and been nominated by the saffron party for Rajya Sabha elections to three vacant seats from Bengal.
Significantly, Ghosh Dastidar has recently written a letter to Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari urging him to conduct an inquiry into the police firing on July 21, 1993.
She has also raised questions on how the previous Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee nominated Gupta as an Assembly election candidate and made him a minister in 2011 without any investigation into the incident.
Mallick, a Bengali actress, after quitting as a Rajya Sabha MP, met Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav, who is also the BJP’s political observer in Bengal, in Delhi.
She is also all set to join the BJP and is expected to get a party ticket to contest the Rajya Sabha election for the fourth seat that will remain vacant after her resignation.
After resigning from all posts in the Trinamool Congress, Madan Mitra on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata’s nephew and a party MP from Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas district, after joining the dissidents’ camp.
"Abhishek is more dangerous than the ED. He doesn't even listen to Mamata," Madan said.
Madan further alleged that Abhishek wants only his own decisions to prevail and "doesn't even listen to Mamata." He also claimed that the BJP cannot be defeated under Abhishek's leadership.
The move marks the most significant crossover to the Ritabrata Banerjee camp since the organisational split surfaced publicly, dealing another blow to the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, which has been grappling with an escalating internal crisis since the party suffered a disastrous defeat to the BJP, winning only 80 out of 294 Assembly seats in the recent Bengal elections.
Addressing reporters after meeting Ritabrata in the Assembly, he said, "I have only changed my room, not my house. I am very much in the TMC."
Announcing his decision, the veteran legislator said, "I am resigning from all national and state committees of the Kalighat TMC. I am also stepping down as chief whip. But I remain a Trinamool MLA."
