People will not take kindly to President rule threats made to TMC govt, says Rajib Banerjee

KOLKATA: Bengal BJP leader Rajib Banerjee, who had walked out of the TMC ahead of Assembly polls earlier in the year, seem to have mellowed after the saffron party's drubbing, as he took to social media on Tuesday to say that "people will not take kindly to threats of President's rule against a government elected with a huge mandate".

Banerjee, after quitting the TMC in January, had claimed that he was forced to do so as a section of party leaders "humiliated him for airing his grievances over their style of functioning".

The former state minister, who skipped a meeting of the state BJP leadership during the day over post-poll violence, said everyone should rise above politics and stand beside the people of the state, amid the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and cyclone Yaas.

"People will not take kindly to it if, for the sake opposing a government elected with huge popular support, threats of Delhi and Article 356 (President's rule) are used at the drop of a hat.

"We should rise politics and stand by the people of Bengal, who have been devastated by COVID and Yaas," Banerjee, who failed to bag the Domjur seat in Howrah district, tweeted.

Several TMC turncoats have, over the past few weeks, expressed their willingness to rejoin the Mamata Banerjee camp -- prominent among them being former MLAs Sonali Guha and Dipendu Biswas.

Some others have also been reportedly sending feelers to the party leadership, hoping to return.

With TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee recently visiting senior BJP leader Mukul Roy's ailing wife in hospital, speculation is rife about a possible change in equation between them.

Roy, once the national general secretary of the TMC - a post currently held by Abhishek -- joined the BJP in 2017.

He was conspicuous by his absence in Tuesday's meeting called by the state BJP leadership.