West Bengal Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Ritabrata Banerjee on Saturday announced the appointment of district chiefs for his faction, appointing former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anuprata Mandal as Birbhum district chief.
Mandal, who was once considered a close aide of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and a Birbhum strongman, has officially joined the rebel camp led by Ritabrata Banerjee, dealing a fresh setback to the TMC.
Addressing the press conference here, Ritabrata said, “We have appointed heads of different zones. Prasun Banerjee has been appointed as head of Malda zone, Debashis Kumar from South Kolkata zone, Sandipan Saha from North Kolkata zone and Anubrata Mandal from Birbhum zone.”
Speculations about Mandal’s switch had been circulating for some time, but were confirmed after Ritabrata Banerjee announced the leadership of the new district, appointing him as the faction’s Birbhum district chief.
Earlier, Ritabrata announced the formation of a new leadership structure for the All India Trinamool Congress Committee (AITC) and appointed Arup Roy as its president.
They also formed a 30-member National Working Committee (NWC), emphasizing that it wants Mamata Banerjee to play a mentor role in the TMC.
He said the 30-member committee includes Firhad Hakim, Arup Biswas, Rathin Ghosh, Sabina Yasmin, Javed Khan, Sandeepan Saha and others, while Firhad Hakim, Arup Biswas, Rathin Ghosh and Sabina Yasmin have been appointed as vice-presidents.
Earlier, the TMC suffered a setback when three prominent former Rajya Sabha MPs – Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dave and Prakash Shek Barak – defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The leaders were formally inaugurated at the state BJP headquarters in the presence of BJP West Bengal state president Samik Bhattacharya and other senior party officials. Within hours of their joining the party, the BJP sent them to participate in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in West Bengal.
By-elections are scheduled to be held on July 24 with votes being counted on the same day, after seats became vacant following the resignation of the three former TMC leaders last month.
