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Hours after Rajib Banerjee quits govt, TMC expels Bally MLA Vaishali Dalmiya
Though a newcomer in politics, Dalmiya was considered a high-profile lawmaker as she is the daughter of Jagmohan Dalmiya, who served as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) sent a strong message to its rebel leaders on Friday evening by expelling Vaishali Dalmiya, the legislator from Bally in Howrah district, hours after forest minister Rajib Banerjee, the lawmaker from the district’s Domjur assembly seat quit the cabinet.
The move came amid strong speculations that both Dalmiya and Banerjee may soon join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the assembly polls due in April-May.
The TMC formally informed the media at 6.31pm that Dalmiya had been expelled. “Disciplinary committee of Trinamool meets. Vaishali Dalmiya has been expelled from the party,” said the brief statement.
Though a newcomer in politics, Dalmiya was considered a high-profile lawmaker as she is the daughter of Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Kolkata-based industrialist who served as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). He was the BCCI president till his death in 2015.
Banerjee, the legislator from Domjur, is the second minister from Howrah district and the third minister in the state to resign on the eve of the crucial assembly polls.
Former Indian cricketer and sports and youth affairs minister Laxmi Ratan Shukla was the first legislator from Howrah district to resign from the TMC on January 5. He represented the Howrah North seat and was also the president of the TMC’s district unit.
Suvendu Adhikari, the TMC leader from East Midnapore district resigned from the government and the TMC and was welcomed into the BJP by Union home minister Amit Shah on December 19.
Dalmiya drew the ire of the TMC leadership for her recent remarks against a section of Howrah district leaders. Like Shukla, she joined politics in 2016. The day Shukla resigned, she said during a live television show that there are “termites in the TMC who are breaking the party from within”.
After Banerjee quit on Friday, Dalmiya told the media that many new legislators were not allowed to work freely by the TMC’s Howrah district unit chairman and minister Arup Roy. She even alleged that Roy did not let her inaugurate her own projects.
“The party did the right thing by expelling her. There is no place for people who make statements against the party. The chief minister fielded Dalmiya in the 2016 polls because she wanted to include people from various backgrounds in development projects. Many such people are working without making complaints,” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told reporters.
Dalmiya did not comment on her expulsion till 7 pm.
