Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra, who remains with party founder Mamata Banerjee, on Wednesday rejected MLA Madan Mitra’s decision to switch allegiance to the rebel faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee, directly linking the move to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoning his family.
“It is not a surprise. Yesterday, his wife, daughters-in-law and sons were called by the emergency department. So, he responded to the call of the emergency department… He went on the call of the emergency department,” Mahua Moitra told news agency ANI in Kolkata.
Madan Mitra’s family members have been summoned by the ED next week for questioning in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the alleged municipal recruitment scam in West Bengal, a senior official told PTI on Tuesday.
Mahua Moitra referred to what she described as Madan Mitra’s sudden transformation.
She said: “We must understand that the person who was standing the day before yesterday and abusing the Ritabrata gang, today goes there and sits next to Ritabrata.”
“This was done at the special invitation of the CEO, so we wish him good luck. We wish him good luck and good health. Have a good time working under the leadership of the Ritabrata gang,” she said, smiling cheerfully.
Mitra when he comes out and erectile dysfunction
Mitra, a former TMC minister, announced his shift on Wednesday, sitting alongside Ritabrata Banerjee, who leads the rebel faction and is currently the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal parliament.
Mitra said he “did not change my room except at the assembly” and denied any connection between his move and the emergency department summons issued to his family.
“My family was summoned by a federal agency. My family will go and cooperate with the agency. But this has nothing to do with me joining (the rebels) today,” Mitra said.
He said his exit came after the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was asked to “step down for six months”, which was not accepted.
“I said [Abhishek]”Let’s build the party, and then you can come back and take your seat,” Mitra said, but he refused.
He added, “The party is sinking, the boat is sinking… However, the party decided, or rather, was forced to accept that everyone else could have died, but Abhishek had to be saved. It is very sad.”
Mitra announced that he had resigned from all party posts but remained technically an MLA. “I have left everything associated with Trinamool. This means that I am no longer a Trinamool MLA in the functional sense,” he said.
This is not the first time Mitra has dealt with central agencies. He was arrested by the CBI in the 2014 Sarada chit fund case and spent 629 days in custody before bail. He was arrested again in May 2021 in the Narada sting case.
Mamata Banerjee replied
Former CM Mamata Banerjee, in a separate response to Mitra’s departure, said he left out of “fear” of the CEO and rejected any suggestion that Abhishek Banerjee’s continued position in the party was the real reason.
“BJP wished me to have a heart attack, and I will live to see the end of you,” Mamata said in a Facebook live address, referring to the BJP’s alleged role in engineering defections from her party since the ruling Center Party ended her rule in Bengal in May.
The exits have accelerated since then, with the bulk of the TMC and MPs either joining the rebel faction or “merging” into a smaller Tripura-based group. The division is now being challenged before the Election Commission over which faction is demanding the name and symbol of the Transitional Military Council.
