Amid chaos over Chandrima Bhattacharya’s resignation, Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kalyan Banerjee on Saturday said that the party would not be weakened by anyone’s resignation, adding that it will remain strong.
Speaking to reporters here, Banerjee said, “As for who resigns, that is entirely up to them. How does that affect us? Our party will not be weakened by it; it will remain strong. Trinamool Congress workers are with the party because of Mamata Banerjee. We are at 41%, while the BJP is 4% ahead, so the question of who leaves whom is irrelevant. The party will suffer no harm.”
Banerjee’s remarks come after the party’s state unit president and former Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya resigned from all party posts on Saturday. Following this, Mamata Banerjee assumed the post of the state president of her TMC faction.
Chandrima termed former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s remarks accusing her of “handing over” the Trinamool Bhavan to the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel faction as the reason behind her resignation from the party.
Bhattacharya told ANI that she was hurt by the party supremo’s remarks.
Bhattacharya said, “You saw what happened yesterday. An incident happened at Trinamool Bhavan. After that, Mamata ji spoke to me over the phone. She told me, ‘You handed over Trinamool Bhavan to them.’ This hurt me. There was no need to say this.”
The resignation comes at a time of high drama in West Bengal politics, as the property owner of the TMC’s state party office in Kolkata locked the premises from the inside following reports that the rebel faction had taken possession of the building.
Meanwhile, TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh hit out at Chandrima Bhattacharya, calling her “arrogant”.
Kunal Ghosh said, “I willl speak on this later, not right now. Anyone can make any decision, but when Mamata Banerjee was the CM, she (Chandrima Bhattacharya) had the most important ministry (department). Now she is showing arrogance.”