Rebel MLAs resign from the party of Mamata Banerjee who calls BJP a “party of thieves”.
Our Bureau
Kolkata/New Delhi
Rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Suvendu Adhikari formally tendered his resignation to party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday, when he also resigned from the state Legislative Assembly, sources confirmed on Thursday.
In his resignation letter, addressed to the party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Adhikari thanked the TMC for the opportunities given to him. “I am writing to tender my resignation as a member of All India Trinamool Congress as well as from all other positions held by me in the party and its associate organs with immediate effect. I am thankful for all the challenges and opportunities that have been given to me and I will always value my time spent as a member of the party,” he wrote.
Another TMC rebel, MLA Jitendra Tiwari, who had threatened to quit the party on Wednesday at a public event, claimed that Adhikari had told him about his plan to join the BJP. “Suvendu Adhikari told me that he’s going to join the BJP. I, however, am supposed to meet Didi (Mamata Banerjee). I will meet her and tell her what I have to say,” said Tiwari while addressing the media.
A day after Trinamool Congress (TMC) rebel Jitendra Tiwari resigned from the Asansol civic body and as the Paschim Bardhaman district president, party workers on Friday tore his posters and raised slogans against him in the city, accusing him of betraying party chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“He has betrayed Mamata Banerjee and TMC. He conned the people of Asansol on the pretext of development. He is a Hitler who misbehaved with the TMC workers,” a party worker said. Earlier in the day, slamming the ruling party for removing his security, Tiwari said he took the step, as the party did not feel his worth anymore.
“When the state government thought my life was precious, it gave me security. Now the government feels my life is not worthy, so my security has been removed,” he said while on his way to Kolkata from Asansol.
“I am going to Kolkata to meet my daughter. No way I am going to join the BJP,” he added.
Meanwhile, slamming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over current law and order situation in the state, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday said that “there is no rule of law in the state and the power of the police is being abused”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Dhankhar visited the circuit house of the Diamond Harbour Assembly of South 24 Parganas district. “There is no rule of law in this state, democracy is being hurt here. The police are being politicised. We are forgetting that we all are accountable to the law. Good governance is impossible without following the law. I take note of all violent incidents. Government employees must be apolitical. The power of the police is being abused. The anarchy of the state continues,” he said.
In a related development, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was a party of thieves and promoted differences between different groups in society.
“We have worked for the people of the state. They always accuse us of being thieves. But nobody is a bigger thief than the BJP. They are big dacoits. In the entire Jalpaiguri-Alipurduar area they started new dharma, called ‘Danga’ dharma and not the Hindu Dharma as suggested by Swami Vivekanda or Ramakrishna Paramhansa,” she said at a public rally in Jalpaiguri. She said, “They promote difference between Hindu, Muslim, Sikhs and Christians; between Bengali-Rajbonshi, Bengali-Bodo people; between Bodi and Muslims; between Muslims and Christians or Christians and Adivasis. This is what they do.”
“They have been in power in Delhi for the last six years. They have promised tea gardens in Jalpaiguri-Alipurduar in 2014 polls, 2016, and then in 2018. Did they fulfil their promise? In the 2014 and 2019 general elections, they promised 2 crore jobs in a year. Did they give even 2 lakh jobs? In the 2014 general elections, they promised Rs 15 lakh in every account. Did they keep that promise? They only make false promises,” she alleged*.
*2 lakh = 200,000. 2 crore = 20 million. 15 lakh = 1.5 million.
