Tapas Roy informed Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee that he was resigning and that he had already filed his resignation papers on March 1st for all of the government and political roles he has held.
Kolkata Political Updates : In a setback to the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee, veteran leader Tapas Roy resigned as an MLA and left the party on Monday, claiming discontent with the TMC leadership.
Mr. Roy informed Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee that he had previously filed his resignation papers on March 1st for all of the government and political roles he was holding.
After his home was raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 12, Mr. Roy, a five-time MLA, expressed his dissatisfaction with the TMC and its leader Mamata Banerjee, accusing them of “deserting him during trying circumstances” and not speaking out.
But Mr. Roy is allegedly putting “undue pressure for a ticket” from the North Kolkata constituency for the next Lok Sabha elections, according to the TMC.
Following Mr. Roy’s resignation, there were wild rumors that the senior leader might join the BJP or any other opposition party in the state.
On his side, Mr. Roy insisted that he would make that choice in “due time”.
Roy claimed that he was abandoned, but the TMC called his claims “baseless”.
The party questioned why he resigned just before the Lok Sabha elections and brought up his track record of switching political parties.
Speaking to reporters at his central Kolkata home in Bowbazar, Mr. Roy blasted the party hierarchy for “not standing by him” following an Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on his home in January.
“Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister, addressed the assembly and declared that Shajahan Sheikh was the target of the ED. I was hoping she would say anything about the raids at my house that killed my family. But there was no word spoken,” Mr. Roy added, clearly upset.
Mr. Roy claimed to have been “spotless and free of corruption” during his political career, but he also stated, “I have reason to believe that some members of my party leadership were involved in the planning of the ED operation at my house.” I was horrified to learn that while my family members were enduring severe anguish and my house was being invaded, some of them were celebrating.”
The senior leader expressed appreciation for the “opposition party leaders who reached out to him during the raid and offered solidarity” but added, “No leader from my party has bothered to get in touch with me for reasons I do not know.” The supreme leader, Mamata Banerjee, hasn’t called me once to reassure her in the fifty-two days that have elapsed since the raids.”
In a desperate attempt to appease and talk Mr. Roy out of following out his intention to leave, minister Bratya Basu and former TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh raced to his home on Monday morning. Mr. Roy resigned from the party.
“I’ve resigned from the TMC as an MLA. In the past, I also gave up all of my party positions and other government jobs that I had held,” he declared.
Mr. Roy and TMC Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who represents North Kolkata, have apparently been at odds for some time. As part of this estrangement, Mr. Roy has reportedly avoided his constituency.
“I am not pleased with how the party is operating. I’m tired of the party and the administration being accused of corruption so frequently. I also disagree with the way the Sandeshkhali situation was handled,” he remarked, insisting that his decision to resign was primarily prompted by the two problems of corruption and Sandeshkhali.
Less than a week has passed since Kunal Ghosh submitted his resignation as state secretary and spokesperson for the TMC.
With a sly grin, Roy mentioned Ghosh’s attempts to talk him out of leaving: “When Kunal was trying to talk me out of leaving, TMC general secretary Subrata Bakshi gave him a show-cause notice.” This party is like that.” “Those in the party who ought to be suspended, show-caused, and expelled are happily thriving in their positions,” he continued. I find it more and more difficult to operate in such conditions.” Claiming the ‘insults, ignominy, and apathy’ he endured in TMC, the leader declared he had been a faithful party member for the past twenty-five years.
“But I never got my dues or the respect I deserved,” he stated.
But the TMC questioned Roy’s departure date and asserted that his complaints were motivated by personal ambitions or outside pressure.
MP and senior TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee delivered a more pointed critique.
Roy had been levelling unfounded accusations against Sudip Bandyopadhyay, the leader of the party, for some time. He was attempting to apply pressure by employing multiple unethical methods. In an attempt to get a ticket from the North Kolkata seat, he was trying to blackmail the group. He might now join the BJP,” he remarked.
The claim made by TMC sources that the party abandoned Roy was “untrue” since “the party got in touch with him just two days after the ED raids in January”.
“The party got an impression that he had made up his mind and was under some compulsion,” according to insiders in the TMC.
Shortly before the 2001 assembly polls, Mr. Roy, a former leader of the student branch of the Congress, Chhatra Parishad, joined the TMC.
Roy, a five-time member of parliament from north Kolkata, formerly served as an MLA for Vidyasagar and Burra Bazar. He then strengthened his hold on Baranagar, where he hasn’t lost since 2011.