“Those who have amassed illegal wealth are leaving the party, it’ll make us stronger”: Trinamool Congress

The Trinamool Congress on Friday said that some leaders in the party have “used” Mamata Banerjee’s name wrongly and amassed huge illegal wealth, and they are now leaving the party ahead of the Assembly elections of 2021 for fear of its consequences.

Speaking at the official press conference of the party, Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that these leaders have either not done any work, or know already that they do not have the people’s support anymore. “They know that either they won’t be nominated by the party to fight elections, or even if they do, they won’t be able to win. They have thus decided to quit the party knowing that the consequences are not going to be favourable,” Ghosh Dastidar said today. She said that the party chief Mamata Banerjee had already started taking action and these leaders have thus decided to leave the party.

Though the Trinamool MP did not mention anyone by name, it was clear that she was referring to the leaders who have resigned as MLAs and party members over the past few days. This includes minister Subhendu Adhikary – who resigned earlier as minister, then as MLA and as Trinamool Congress member. Others to sever ties with the party are Shilbhadra Dutta, Jitendra Tewari and Kabirul Islam. While the former two resigned as MLAs, Islam has been heading the party’s minority cell. With four senior leaders of the party parting ways, the Trinamool Congress has received a major jolt already. There are talks that several leaders of the Trinamool Congress may join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday at a rally in West Midnapore in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

However, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that the party was not perturbed by Trinamool leaders leaving the party. “It will make us stronger. In place of one person leaving us, there are 500 others who are willing to work for Mamata Banerjee,” she said.

“The BJP not been able to build their party structure here because no one in West Bengal likes them or their divisive policies. And in taking away one or two leaders created by Mamata Banerjee, they are hoping to gain ground. But this is their misconception and a wrong policy,” Ghosh Dastidar said.