A letter from senior State Congress leader and MLA Rabindranath Chatterjee seeking exemption from the post of deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the State Assembly has triggered speculation whether he is going to join the Trinamool Congress.
Since 2011, nine Congress MLAs have joined the TMC.
When asked, Mr Chatterjee, elected from Katwa in the State’s Bardhaman district, did not refute the speculation but said that a large number of Congress workers in his constituency do not want to associate with the party anymore.
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“They are concerned about the security. Many of them are behind bars and others have to flee their homes. I feel for the families of these workers,” said the MLA.
On whether senior party leaders have stood by him in the crisis, Mr Chaterjee said they have not been as active as they should be.
CLP leader Mohd. Sohrab said that he has received the letter and asked Mr Chaterjee to meet him. “I will urge him to withdraw the request,” he said.
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It is also learnt that the veteran Katwa MLA has also written to State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asking that he be relieved of all responsibilities of the party.
The constituency Katwa in Bardhaman had witnessed lot of political violence and even during the recently held municipal polls a TNC worker was killed.
Only a few days ago, Mr Chatterjee and Ratua Congress MLA Samar Mukherjee had met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. “Both are MLAs from other parties and have come to meet me regarding local issues in their areas,” the Chief Minister had said.
The Congress, which fought the 2011 Assembly polls in an alliance with the TMC, has accused the latter of engineering defections in the party.
Rabindranath Chatterjee has requested that he be relieved of the post of the CLP deputy leader