KOLKATA: Former Bengal forest minister Rajib Banerjee on Friday resigned from the assembly as a Trinamool Congress MLA and quit the party soon after amid speculation that he would follow in former colleague Suvendu Adhikari's footsteps and join BJP.
Coming exactly a week after Banerjee had stepped down from the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, his exit as an MLA and a Trinamool member was to coincide with Union home minister Amit Shah's second visit to Bengal in just over a month until the latter cancelled his trip late in the evening. The buzz in BJP circles till then was that Banerjee would switch to saffron at Shah's scheduled rally in Howrah’s Dumurjala on Sunday.
Banerjee is the second miffed Mamata acolyte to resign as an MLA before bailing out of Trinamool just like Adhikari did last December. Another former TMC minister, Sovan Chatterjee, remains the Behala Purba MLA even after joining BJP.
Among the three, Banerjee is the only one not to be named as an accused in the Narada bribery sting or the Saradha scam.
The manner of his exit was different, too. Carrying a photograph of "dalanetri (party chief)" Mamata, the ex-minister had given the impression while stepping out of the assembly after quitting as an MLA that he would stay put in Trinamool for now. "I am grateful to my dalanetri for giving me the opportunity to enter the assembly and become a minister," Banerjee said. "I have resigned as MLA but not left the party as yet."
Within hours of that statement, Banerjee's resignation from the party reached CM Mamata, with a copy of the letter to TMC state president Subrata Bakshi.
Former cabinet colleague Adhikari appeared to give away Banerjee's future plans when he welcomed "tested leaders like Rajib babu" to BJP. "I don’t know if Rajib babu is joining BJP. But BJP is the right place for him," he said.
TMC minister Bratya Basu played down Banerjee's decision to sever ties with the party. "Some heads may choose to leave Trinamool. But the body — the ranks and supporters — remains," he said.