Chandrima Bhattacharya joins rebel Trinamool camp after quitting as state chief

Kolkata, July 4 (IANS) In a dramatic escalation of the Trinamool Congress’s internal crisis, former West Bengal Minister of State for Finance (Independent Charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya resigned from all party posts on Saturday and immediately joined the rebel faction led by expelled legislator Ritabrata Banerjee, dealing a severe blow to the Mamata Banerjee-led camp.

Soon after submitting her resignation to former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and announcing her decision to resign from all party posts, Bhattacharya, the former West Bengal Minister of State for Finance (Independent Charge), went straight to the state assembly and attended a meeting with Ritabrata and other MLAs from the “rebel but majority” faction.

When questioned about the meeting with the rebel camp of MLAs, Bhattacharya, who was defeated in the recently concluded West Bengal assembly elections, said that everyone has to ultimately make the journey as per the time’s requirement.

Speaking to the media, she also made an explosive allegation that although, as the Minister of State for Finance (Independent Charge), she used to present the state budget every year on the floor of the West Bengal Assembly, she was never consulted or involved in the budget preparations.

“Even I was not aware of what would be in the budget speech even a day before presenting the budget. I was made aware of the budget details just a couple of hours before the presentation on the floor of the assembly. I was loyal towards Mamata Banerjee, and hence I never disclosed this. Now since that loyalty is in question and I am being held responsible by Mamata Banerjee for Friday’s takeover of the party office, I had no other option but to resign from all party posts,” Bhattacharya said.

She also said that although she could have revealed more now, she was deliberately refraining from doing so since, as a former member of the state, she took the oath of secrecy.

Giving his reaction on the development, Trinamool legislator Kunal Ghosh, who is one of the few faces left in the “original but minority” faction in Trinamool with continued loyalty towards Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, said that if anyone decides to join hands with traitors, there was nothing left to be said on that decision.

“Chandrima Bhattacharya was allotted the maximum and most important portfolios in the previous Mamata Banerjee-led cabinet. Wasn’t she proud then? Why did she leave now, when the party has been defeated?” questioned Ghosh.

–IANS

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