Rajib Banerjee quits, Baishali expelled from state cabinet

The possibility of defection to the BJP by a battery of Trinamul’s Howrah leaders has been deemed strong by the ruling party for months

Rajib Banerjee speaks to the media outside Raj Bhavan in Calcutta on Friday.: PTI photo

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya   |   TT   |   Calcutta   |    23.01.21 : Mamata Banerjee on Friday expelled Rajib Banerjee from her cabinet, soon after he had submitted resignation letter to the chief minister’s office “without following procedural norms”.

Rajib Banerjee, who was the forest minister, had been keeping away from cabinet meeting. The Howrah leader met governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at Raj Bhavan also on Friday and submitted his resignation.

The Domjur MLA is the third minister to exit Mamata’s cabinet after Suvendu Adhikari and Laxmi Ratan Shukla in less than two months. Adhikari is the only one who has formally joined the BJP so far.

Sources said Rajib had handed to Mamata’s office at her Kalighat residence the resignation letter. Citing procedural lapses in the resignation, the chief minister recommended to the governor Rajib’s ouster from the cabinet and the Raj Bhavan accepted it.

Bally MLA Baishali Dalmiya.: File photo

Another Trinamul Congress leader in Howrah, Bally MLA Baishali Dalmiya, welcomed Rajib’s resignation and the party’s disciplinary committee soon expelled her.

The possibility of defection to the BJP by a battery of Trinamul’s Howrah leaders, including Banerjee, Dalmiya, Howrah North MLA Shukla, Shibpur MLA Jatu Lahiri and Howrah MP Prasun Banerjee, has been deemed strong by the ruling party for months.

Sources said the Howrah mutineers were likely to join the BJP during Union home minister Amit Shah’s likely visit to Bengal at the end of this month.

“A couple of days ago, there was a social gathering in Howrah, where many of them sat with Suvendu. Of course, Rajib and Baishali were there. We have been aware of things they have been up to, for a while now…. She (Mamata) has a zero-tolerance policy for such behaviour,” said a senior Trinamul MP.

Banerjee claimed he had been forced to take the decision after “humiliation” from a section of the leadership. He alleged a lack of “courtesy” towards him by the chief minister two-and-a-half years ago when he had been unceremoniously removed from the irrigation department. The department was then handed over to Adhikari.

Fellow rebel Dalmiya, who had been repeatedly attacking the party in public, issued a statement of firm support for Rajib. Hours later, the 52-year-old daughter of deceased cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya, was expelled.

Agri-marketing minister Arup Roy, a senior Howrah leader that the rebels were allegedly opposed to, was critical of the mutiny. “Well, when the party was founded in 1998, none of them was there anyway. There was this lingering feeling, for sometime, that this was going to happen…. These are but a few leaves falling off a giant tree,” said Roy.

Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said: “I have been saying for weeks that it is only a matter of time before just two people in Kalighat (Mamata and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, her heir-apparent) remain in the party…. All these people are welcome to approach us and we will consider it, if they want to join.”