Ankhi Das’s father-in-law and two-time MLA of the ruling Trinamool Congress Rabiranjan Chatterjee, has decided to quit politics. He said that the TMC needs a course correction and is not the same party anymore.
“The party needs some corrections. It is not the same party anymore looking at which I joined it. It has taken a downward turn. The TMC had come to power uprooting the 34-years of Left rule. But it did little to bring any change,” said octogenarian Chatterjee.
Chatterjee, who came to politics after retirement in 2004, first contested the elections on a TMC ticket in 2011 from Burdwan Dakshin and won by 37,000 votes against CPI (M) heavyweight and former minister Nirupam Sen. He was made the minister of science and technology from 2011 to 2016. He won the elections for the second time in 2016 but was not given any ministerial berth.
“Since 2016 I didn’t get a proper chance to work for the people. I don’t know why,” he said.
“Those who were not supposed to come to politics were crowding more. Everything seems to be changing for the worse. Politics was never my career. My nature is that I want to stay in that place where I get peace and satisfaction. So I decided to quit,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Those who were not supposed to come to politics were crowding more. Everything seems to be changing for the worse. Politics was never my career. My nature is that I want to stay in that place where I get peace and satisfaction. So I decided to quit,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}He is, however, not the first to quit the TMC. While more than two dozen MLAs and former legislators have switched over to the BJP from TMC since 2019 many have informed the party that they want to stay away from politics.
Former minister Upen Biswas has written to the party announcing that he won’t be contesting the elections. Actor-turned-MLA Chiranjeet Chakraborty also expressed his desire to quit politics and focus more on acting. Earlier cricketer turned MLA Laxmi Ratan Shuka also quit as a minister saying that he wants to concentrate more on cricket.
Chatterjee, however, said that none from the party said anything against him or his daughter-in-law Das.
Das had quit the American social media giant in October 2020 after being caught in a raging controversy over allegations of political bias in running Facebook and Whatsapp.
“I believe Ankhi is very intelligent and hardworking and the hard work that she had put in for Facebook I respect her. No one said anything against her after that incident,” Chatterjee said.
Chatterjee also cited his health and age as reasons for quitting the party. He is suffering from kidney problems and also had to be hospitalized.
“I have already informed TMC chief Mamata Banerjee that I won’t be contesting the polls this time. But no one from the party contacted me. I never received any call. No one even enquired about my health when I was in the hospital,” he said.