Calcutta, Feb. 9: Radhika Ranjan Pramanik, who won five Lok Sabha elections from Mathurapur as a CPM candidate, will fight the party as a Trinamul Congress nominee this time.

The expelled CPM leader sat beside Mamata Banerjee at a news conference this afternoon and said he had revolted against corruption in his former party. “Marxism has been rejected by political scientists and a revolution is not possible in our country,” Pramanik said even as he showered praise on the Trinamul chief, the “great leader” Mamata.

Reacting to Pramanik’s induction in the Trinamul, CPM state secretary Anil Biswas said: “He (Pramanik) has gone to a party appropriate for him. He had been to Mamata’s house after he was driven out of the CPM. Now, he has gone to the Trinamul office to join her party. We are not surprised.”

Mamata continued to cold shoulder one-time confidant Sudip Bandopadhyay. Asked about the Calcutta Northwest MP’s meetings with her in Delhi last week, Union coal and mines minister Mamata said all elected representatives can meet her in office. “I don’t want to comment on the meetings,” she added.

Bandopadhyay tried to show steel. “I am not going to desert my constituency. I will keep working towards its development. If necessary, I will go it alone,” he said. The speculation is that mayor Subrata Mukherjee may contest from Bandopadhyay’s seat.

Mamata said: “We are still in talks with the BJP on seat sharing and 99 per cent of our list is final. We (the Trinamul-BJP combine) will contest in all 42 seats.”