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Mamata aide Chandrima Bhattacharya resigns as TMC's Bengal chief within month of appointment
Chandrima Bhattacharya had recently replaced veteran organiser Subrata Bakshi as the party's state president.
Chandrima Bhattacharya, Trinamool Congress (TMC) West Bengal president and a close aide of Mamata Banerjee, on Saturday, resigned from all posts in the party, people familiar with the matter said.
“I hereby tender my resignation from the post of the state president of All India Trinamool Congress which had been conferred on me in the meeting at Kalighat on June 3. I also hereby resign from all other posts which I hold at present,” Bhattacharya wrote in her resignation letter.
She addressed Mamata Banerjee as the former chief minister and not as the TMC chairperson.
On June 3, the rebel TMC legislators recognised by the state assembly speaker as the principal opposition party in the House formed their new national working committee and elected Arup Roy as their chairperson, a post held by party founder Banerjee. Roy was a minister in the TMC government.
“Please note that I withdraw myself as the authorised signatory of TMC and all other related organisations in respect of the accounts maintained in various banks. I also withdraw myself from being your authorised person before the Election Commission of India,” she wrote.
Her resignation comes a day after the rebel TMC faction occupied the party's multi-storey rented office off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, saying they represented the “original TMC.” People familiar with the matter said that Bhattacharya was there in the TMC Bhavan at that time and left a few minutes later.
“I have no allegations against anyone. I have a grievance against myself that I may have not been able to keep the trust. I was told by party supremo Mamata Banerjee that I had handed over the TMC Bhavan. I am hurt. Who am I to hand over the Bhavan?” Bhattacharya said.
"She was a veteran TMC leader and at the same time a long-term minister in the Mamata Banerjee-administration. She held several important portfolios in the government. It is unfortunate that she never got hurt at that time," Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson, said.
On Friday, the rebel MLAs put up their own banner, bearing the Banerjee-designed election symbol, the twin flower, outside the building but did not remove the old banner featuring her photograph.
Bhattacharya, a veteran TMC leader a and close aide of Banerjee, was recently made the party’s state president replacing veteran party leader Subrata Bakshi was said to be ill. She held portfolios in the Mamata Banerjee-administration including finance, health and panchayat and rural development.
In the two-phase assembly polls held in April, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 208 of the 294 seats while the TMC secured only 80. As many as 58 of the TMC legislators joined the rebel camp led by Ritabrata Banerjee and were recognised by the speaker on June 3 as the official opposition.
There is speculation that Bhattacharya could join the rebel faction.
“I will not comment. Only time will tell,” she said.
The unprecedented development in Bengal politics - in which many see reflections of the 2022 split in Maharashtra's Shiv Sena - came 29 days after the BJP's victory. To escape action under the anti-defection law, the splinter group needed 52 MLAs.
