Rajib Banerjee quits TMC; speculation rife about him joining BJP with several others

The ruling TMC in West Bengalwas on Friday rocked by a fresh bout of desertions as formerminister Rajib Banerjee quit the party and several otherleaders rallied behind him, deepening the crisis in the party.

The desertions took place just hours before thearrival of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on a two-day visit tothe state fuelling speculations that he may join the saffroncamp ahead of the state election.

After quitting the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, RajibBanerjee on Friday resigned from the party and as MLA of theWest Bengal Assembly.

A slew of disgruntled TMC leaders, including some MLAssuch as Prabir Ghosal and Baishali Dalmiya, who was recentlyexpelled from the party and former Howrah Mayor RathinChakraborty, spoke out against the TMC leadership.

Rajib Banerjee, the former forest minister whorepresented the Domjur seat, visited the state assembly in themorning and submitted his resignation to Speaker BimanBanerjee.

''I have resigned as MLA of the state assembly. I havesubmitted my resignation letter to the speaker. I thank TMCsupremo Mamata Banerjee for providing me with an opportunityto serve the masses,'' he said.

To a query about his possible switchover to BJP,Banerjee said, ''If you want to serve the masses you need to beassociated with a political party. People always want apolitician to be associated with a party. But I have notspoken with BJP leaders so far.

''I will continue to serve the people of myconstituency in the days to come,'' he added.

Later in the evening he sent his resignation from theprimary membership of the party to TMC supremo and West BengalChief Minister Mamata Banerjee and thanked her for providinghim with the platform.

''Mamata Banerjee is like a mother figure to me. I amindebted to her for providing me with this platform ... Thisis an emotional moment for me,'' he said.

Incidentally Shah is scheduled to address a rally inRajib Banerjee's home district Howrah on January 31.

He had joined the growing list of dissenters who haveput the ruling camp in a tight spot ahead of the assemblyelections when he last week put in his papers as the cabinetminister. Rajib Banerjee had said he was forced to take thedecision after being publicly humiliated by a section of theparty's leaders for airing his grievances over their style offunctioning.

He is the third minister to quit the state cabinet inthe last two months after Suvendu Adhikari, who crossed overto BJP. The second minister to quit was Laxmi Ratan Shukla,who expressed his desire to quit politics.

According to TMC sources, he had been havingdifferences over various issues with the TMC district chairmanof Howrah and state minister Arup Roy.

Meanwhile, former Howrah mayor and TMC leader RathinChakraborty, who recently spoke out against the leadership,said he will be at Shah's rally in Howrah on Sunday.

''Those who want to work for the people are not allowedto work in the TMC. We had informed the party leadership butit has yielded no result,'' Chakraborty said.

Ghosal neither confirmed nor denied the speculationsover his probable switch over to the BJP.

''I am not saying anything today. All of you will getto see what happens in the next few days,'' he said.

Reacting to Banerjee quitting the party, senior TMCleader Firhad Hakim said ''Rajib should clarify what took himso long to resign and that too ahead of the polls''.

''If he has quit for personal reasons, I have nothingto say. But if he has quit to joine BJP, why did he wait solong. He should have resigned two years ago. This onlyshow their true colours,'' Hakim, also senior minister, said.

An elated BJP said the ''beginning of the end of theTMC has already begun'' and the party would disintegrate soon.

''It is only a matter of time before TMC disintegrates.

Those who want to join in the fight against TMC should joinus,'' state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said.

According to BJP sources who did not wish to be named,at least 15 leaders from various parties are likely to jointhe saffron party within the next few days.

Rajib Banerjee, a popular mass leader in Howrah, hasinfluence in eight of the district's 16 assembly seats.

Elections to the 294-member assembly are likely to beheld in April-May this year.