Calcutta, May 17: In yet another setback to Mamata Banerjee, Arunava Ghosh, the Trinamul Congress MLA from Dum Dum, today resigned
from the party and the Assembly in protest against the nomination of the wives of two councillors in Salt Lake.
Though Mamata refused to comment on Ghosh?s resignation, Partha Chatterjee, the MLA from Behala West and member of the Trinamul disciplinary committee, said it would ?harm Trinamul? in the run-up to the civic elections. ?This will help the ruling CPM campaign against us. Arunava is a good friend of mine and I call upon him to reconsider his decision to resign,? Chatterjee added.
The Behala MLA indicated that the party would not accept Ghosh?s resignation.
Last month mayor Subrata Mukherjee had broken away from the party with two mayor-in-council members, five MLAs and several councillors to float the Paschimbanga Unnayan Congress Mancha.
Nayana Banerjee, the Trinamul MLA from Bowbazar and wife of former party MP Sudip Bandopadhayay, and
Shibdas Mukherjee, the MLA from Krishnagar East, have
already been suspended for anti-party activities.
Ghosh stuck to his decision to quit and alleged that Mamata had nominated Indrani Dutta ? wife of Sabyasachi ? in ward 10 and Nirmala Das ? wife of Ujjal ? in ward 3 of Bidhannagar municipality despite there being charges of corruption against their husbands.
Sabyasachi and Ujjal?s wards were reserved for women this year.
?I wrote to Mamata time and again complaining against the two councillors involved in various anti-party activities. But to my utter surprise, their wives were nominated. This is an insult to me,? Ghosh said, adding that he had already sent a copy of his resignation to Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim.
Former state Congress chief Somen Mitra told an election rally at Nabadwip in Nadia he will call on Sonia Gandhi to apprise her of the identity of those involved in the assault of defence minister and state party president Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday.
?Those who heckled Pranabda are anti-socials and I want stringent action against all of them,? Mitra said.
His aide Arun Das, a former Calcutta municipal corporation councillor, was suspended from the party yesterday for having led the attack.
