A day after being singled out as a "special MP" by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, Trinamool's Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar on Wednesday dismantled the last remnants of her organisational relationship with the 30B Harish Chatterjee Street high command.
On Wednesday, the four-term physician-parliamentarian dashed off a letter in Bengali to the ailing Trinamool state president Subrata Bakshi, resigning from all her posts in the party.
"... it is with profound sorrow and concern that I request to be relieved of my responsibilities as chairperson of the All India Trinamool Mahila Congress, along with all other organisational posts, committees and responsibilities within the party. I find little meaning in continuing in a position from which one is unable to prevent the indecent behaviour of an untrained party colleague towards a woman Member of Parliament, nor receive the cooperation, support and empathy expected from the senior leadership," she wrote, apparently referring to Sreerampur MP Kalyan Banerjee, and his feud with Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra.
Ghosh Dastidar, an alumna of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, which saw the grisly rape and murder of a junior doctor on August 9, 2024, added that she deeply felt the "moral impact" of the case. "The unnatural death of a female doctor at RG Kar Medical College and the allegations of evidence tampering surrounding the incident have shaken and distressed society. I have personally felt the moral impact of these incidents very deeply," she wrote.
The most damning paragraphs, however, openly targeted poll consultancy firm I-PAC, which Trinamool No. 2 Abhishek Banerjee had strongly backed, warning Bakshi that the party’s soul was being overshadowed by corporate mercenaries.
"Similarly, multiple disturbing allegations involving I-PAC, including the influence of various individuals and groups, have troubled me continuously. I believe that if opaque and undemocratic influences gradually dominate the organisation instead of a democratic political culture, it cannot be considered beneficial for the party’s ideals and traditions," she wrote.
She, however, claimed she was not leaving the party and would remain a "common worker".
Ghosh Dastidar's structural exit from Trinamool came less than 24 hours after she broke a longstanding Kalighat taboo by attending an administrative review meeting of the new BJP state government in Kalyani. The meeting was chaired by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, once her Trinamool colleague, who gleefully weaponised her presence against the collapsing party.
Ghosh Dastidar, who often underscored her association with Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee since 1976, has been publicly critical of the party and its ways for days.
With 18 heavyweights, including Ghosh Dastidar, already mutinying and over 100 councillors en masse surrendering to local BJP units to evade persecution, the Trinamool hegemony is imploding since the May 4 results.
Mamata has so far refused to acknowledge the defeat, tolerate criticism of Abhishek or begin course correction.
The BJP's Bishnupur MP Saumitra Khan, another Trinamool turncoat, gleefully jabbed the bleeding party on Wednesday, claiming at least 50 of Trinamool's 80 MLAs and 20 of its 42 MPs (in both Houses) were ready to switch sides the moment the BJP agrees.
Sources in Trinamool said that at least seven MLAs from Malda and Murshidabad, and two south Bengal MPs, had approached the Congress seeking entry.
Mamata apparently responded to such activities with a Bengali poem she wrote, posting it on her socials. Titled "Girgiti (Chameleon)", it attacked "traitors".
