Three days after the fiasco at the Salt Lake stadium that left Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee red-faced, Aroop Biswas sent a handwritten letter to his Didi on a white paper, not even a letterhead from the sports department that he has been heading since 2016.

A question will remain on the constitutional propriety of a cabinet-rank minister expressing on a blank paper his wish to step down from one of the three portfolios that he holds.

Since enraged football fans went on a rampage after being unable to catch a glimpse of Lionel Messi, the clamour for heads to roll in general and of Aroop in particular was growing loud.

The chief minister issued a public apology within half an hour of the incident and formed an inquiry committee. Everything that Mamata Banerjee has done since Saturday was to stall any more attacks on her government in the election year ahead.

Trinamool insiders said the chief minister acted with alacrity to avoid further controversy.

“Had Mamata di not gone public with her displeasure over what happened at Salt Lake stadium on Saturday, the controversy would have knocked on her door,” said a Trinamool insider.

Several members of Mamata’s extended family were present at the ground and got pictures clicked with the Argentine star footballer, according to party sources.

“Aroop is obviously amongst the most well-known ministers in the state. He was all over the ground and was seen hugging and laughing with Messi. But he was not the only one present,” said the Trinamool source.

Some of those pictures had found their way to social media by Saturday evening.

That there is no love lost between Trinamool general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee and a section of the party leaders close to Mamata like Aroop, Kolkata mayor Firhad ‘Bobby’ Hakim and others is well known in the party and outside.

Trinamool sources said Abhishek, who was not in Kolkata on Saturday, was unhappy with the developments on the football field and how it had impacted the party’s image.

“Abhishek is neither happy with the clout that Aroop and Bobby enjoy nor with the free hand given to police officers like Rajeev Kumar. Didi can well say that as an administrator she has accepted the recommendations made by the enquiry committee that she had herself announced,” said one source.

It was not a coincidence that Aroop Biswas’s decision to step away from the sports department came within an hour of show-cause notices served to the state director general of police Rajeev Kumar, Trinamool insiders insisted.

Counted among one of the staunchest Mamata loyalists in the party, Aroop Biswas remains a key minister in her government, and will continue to handle the important portfolios of power and housing.

“Our chief minister follows the principles of raj dharma,” said Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh. “The Left Front government did not hold a probe into the firing at Eden Gardens in 1980 that left 16 dead or the attack during the semi-final match of the 1996 cricket World Cup.”

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said the resignation was simply a drama.

“No cabinet-rank minister can resign like this,” the BJP leader said. “He should have been arrested first.”