The Trinamool Congress (TMC), on Monday, expelled two MLAs from the party for allegedly “repeatedly failing to attend meetings” and indulging in anti-party activities.
Sandipan Saha and Ritabrata Banerjee are the two legislators who were expelled.
This development comes a day after 61 out of 80 TMC MLAs skipped the legislative party meeting on Sunday.
“The All India Trinamool Congress has been informed through its competent authority that despite being elected as AITC nominated candidates, you have repeatedly failed to attend meetings held by the authorized leadership of the party and have been involved in anti-party activities,” a letter addressed to two MLAs said.
“It has also been observed that you have engaged in activities and made statements prejudicial to the interests of AITC,” the letter signed by party vice-president Chandrima Bhattacharya added.
Read also | 61 of 80 Trinamool Congress MLAs skip Mamata Banerjee’s legislative party meeting
After studying the matter properly, the report stated, “The competent authority of the Independent Committee for Islamic Experiments has decided to expel you from the primary membership of the party with immediate effect.”
Soon after being expelled from the party, Saha said that he would be very happy if he and Banerjee were suspended from the party for upholding morality.
“In this party, anyone who talks about morality will be considered to be engaging in anti-party activity, simply because the party itself does not engage in any moral behaviour… If we are suspended from the party today for upholding morality, then we are actually very happy. Performing moral acts is actually the duty of every legislator, which is exactly what we did…,” he told ANI.
TMC cancels its meeting due to absence of 61 MLAs
On Sunday, the Transitional Military Council was forced to cancel a meeting of the legislative party after a large number of MPs failed to attend.
A total of 61 out of 80 members were absent from the TMC legislative party meeting in Kolkata on Sunday, leading to its cancellation.
The meeting was held to discuss the investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) into the alleged forgery of MLAs’ signatures on Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay’s nomination letter as Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.
The expulsion order came a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said at a press conference at the state secretariat that Saha and Banerjee had lodged complaints in connection with the alleged “fake signature” case involving the TMC’s endorsement of Chattopadhyay as the line of protection.
However, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh on Sunday defended the cancellation of the meeting, saying several MLAs could not attend as they were participating in protests against the alleged harassment of the party’s national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, on Saturday.
However, another TMC MLA, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told HT that if Abdul Rahim Buksi, an MLA from Malda district, and Rukbanur Rahman from Nadia, manage to reach Kalighat, it is still unclear why Javed Ahmed Khan and Sandipan Saha, both legislators from Kolkata, are absent.
(with PTI inputs)
