Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Madan Mitra on Wednesday joined the rebel camp led by Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, dealing another political setback to the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, even as he insisted that he remained a member of the party.
The veteran Kamarhati MLA announced his resignation from all national and state organisational committees of the Mamata Banerjee-aligned “Kalighat TMC”. He also stepped down as the party’s chief whip in the West Bengal Assembly with immediate effect.
“I have only changed my room, not my house. I am very much in the TMC,” Mitra told reporters after meeting Ritabrata Banerjee in his chamber in the Assembly.
Dressed in a white kurta and wearing his trademark dark sunglasses, Mitra sat beside the rebel leader before declaring that he would no longer hold any organisational responsibility under the Mamata Banerjee-led faction while continuing as a Trinamool Congress MLA.
“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,” he said.
Mitra’s switch is the most significant defection to the rebel camp since the organisational split within the TMC became public and is expected to deepen the crisis confronting the Mamata Banerjee faction.
One of the Trinamool Congress’ most recognisable mass leaders and a long-time trusted lieutenant of Mamata Banerjee, Mitra had in recent months publicly expressed differences with sections of the party leadership, while repeatedly asserting that he had no intention of leaving the party.
His decision to align with the Ritabrata Banerjee camp gives the rebels their highest-profile political face so far and is likely to strengthen their claim that discontent within the TMC extends beyond a handful of dissident legislators.
“We still have 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Those Parliamentarians who have joined the ‘setting company’ have done so because they are afraid of the police,” she claimed.
In an apparent reference to the BJP, she said leaders leaving the TMC were entering the saffron party’s “washing machine” as well as the BJP-backed rebel camp.
Referring to senior MLA Madan Mitra’s decision to join the rebel camp earlier in the day, she said, “The person (Madan Mitra) who left today had yesterday told us that he and his family had received summons. We understood then that he might switch camps. Those who have a setting are joining the BJP’s washing machine.”
Without naming other leaders, Mamata Banerjee alleged that those facing investigations were choosing political convenience over conviction.
Asserting that the defections would not weaken her resolve, she said she was prepared to rebuild the Trinamool Congress from scratch if necessary.
