E TMC MLAs Tapas Chatterjee, Biswajit Das meet Ritabrata faction
Trinamool Congress MLAs Tapas Chatterjee and Biswajit Das on Friday met the Ritabrata Banerjee-led breakaway faction of the party, saying there was little space in
Trinamool Congress MLAs Tapas Chatterjee and Biswajit Das on Friday met the Ritabrata Banerjee-led breakaway faction of the party, saying there was little space in the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC for collective discussion on political issues. The meeting came as several TMC leaders and MLAs have been reaching out to the faction. Ritabrata Banerjee said the group’s collective leadership would decide on the possible induction of Chatterjee and Das. "We will let you know tomorrow," he told reporters. Read Full Story Chatterjee, who joined the TMC after leaving the CPI(M) following the 2011 West Bengal Assembly elections, said senior leaders in the party did not get enough opportunity to discuss issues with the leadership.
"I did not get the opportunity to speak to the then chief minister Mamata Banerjee on any issue," Chatterjee said, alleging that the TMC supremo ignored him when the party was in power. The former Rajarhat Newtown MLA said that despite being a senior leader with nearly five decades of political experience, his calls to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee were routed through a youth leader. "I was very unhappy with the shabby treatment meted out to me," he claimed. Reacting to Chatterjee’s meeting with the rival group, TMC MLA and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the veteran leader may not have been able to withstand the pressure on him.
"Instead of a political battle, pressure tactics are being resorted to here by using the police and the administration," Ghosh told reporters, without naming those allegedly responsible. "Those who can resist are staying, while those who are unable to do so are surrendering," he said. Das, a former Bagdah MLA, also met Ritabrata Banerjee at his office in the Assembly. He had switched from the TMC to the BJP in 2019 and won the 2021 Assembly election on a BJP ticket before returning to the Mamata Banerjee-led party within months.
He had earlier won from Bongaon Uttar on a TMC ticket in 2011 and 2016. The meetings with Chatterjee and Das marked the latest outreach to the Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction, which said its collective leadership would take a call on their inclusion. Ends
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