E-Paper
Bengal minister Laxmi Ratan Shukla quits TMC
Kolkata: Bengal minister of state for youth services and sports and former Indian cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla resigned from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday.
Kolkata: Bengal minister of state for youth services and sports and former Indian cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla resigned from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday. He is a legislator from Howrah.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee confirmed the development at a media conference.Shukla did not comment on the development. Shukla’s exit comes ahead of the state elections to be held in April this year.
“Laxmi is a good boy. He wrote a letter saying he wants to pursue sports wholeheartedly and wants to be relieved of all responsibilities in the party,” Banerjee said.” He did not talk of resigning from the ministry. But we have accepted his resignation and written to the governor that he may be relieved as minster. Laxmi has said that he will continue to be a member of the legislative assembly till its current term comes to an end.”
Shukla’s decision sparked speculation that may join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) like former minister Suvendu Adhikari.Last month, at a rally addressed by Union home minister Amit Shah in Midnapore, six TMC legislators joined the BJP, led by Adhikari, considered a political heavyweight.
Banerjee dismissed the speculation. “It is good that he wants to pursue sports. He said he wants to give more time to sports. That’s why he wants to leave politics. There is nothing more to this. He has our best wishes. There is no place for misunderstanding here. You (the media) try to make something out of every information,”
Samik Bhattacharya, chief spokesperson of the Bengal BJP, did not say whether Shukla would join the party. “It is difficult for any person with strong principles to stay in the TMC. We are not surprised,” he said.
Shukla was a middle-order batsman and a medium-pacer in the Indian team in 1999. He played for the Bengal cricket team as well as the Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi in Indian Premier League (IPL) matches. He joined the TMC before the 2016 assembly polls. He declared his retirement from cricket in 2015.
