Another TMC Leader Quits: Former Bengal Minister Manas Ranjan Bhunia Sends Resignation Letter To Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: Another Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader has resigned from the party. Former West Bengal minister Manas Ranjan Bhuniya has sent his resignation letter to party chief Mamata Banerjee, citing personal reasons for quitting the party.

Bhunia is a former Congress leader who had joined TMC in 2016. The seven-time MLA from Paschim Medinipur's Sabang constituency had contested Assembly elections from the seat this year as well. However, he was defeated by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Amal Kumar Panda by a margin of more than 11,000 votes.

He served as the state Minister for Irrigation and Waterways and the Minister for Small & Micro Industries and Textile in the erstwhile Mamata Banerjee government.

His resignation comes at a time when TMC is facing a massive internal crisis, with several MPs and MLAs having rebelled against Mamata Banerjee.

As many as four Rajya Sabha MPs from the party have resigned in a week:

1. Sukhendu Sekhar Roy
2. Sushmita Dev
3. Koel Mallick
4. Prakash Chik Baraik

In his resignation letter to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Sukhendu said that the people of Bengal had “rejected the party's rampant corruption, extreme oppression of women, and its utter failure and the severe anarchy prevailing across sectors, including education, healthcare, industry, employment, and law and order.”

Praising the BJP, Sukhendu further wrote: “The voters have, for the first time in Bengal’s history, given the Bharatiya Janata Party a massive victory in terms of seats. The newly elected government has already begun working to implement multiple programmes for Bengal’s overall development and reconstruction, in line with its election promises.”

Meanwhile, rebel Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar confirmed that a group of 20 Lok Sabha MPs has formally sought separate seating arrangements in the House, signalling an organisational split within the party's parliamentary ranks.

The names of the 19 MPs, as accessed by sources, are:

1. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar
2. Satabdi Roy
3. Bapi Haldar
4. Dr. Sharmila Sarkar
5. Prasun Bandyopadhyay
6. Jagadish Barma Basunia
7. Asit Kumar Mal
8. Arup Chakraborty
9. Rachna Banerjee
10. Saayoni Ghosh
11. Khalilur Rahaman
12. Abu Taher Khan
13. Yusuf Pathan
14. Mitali Bag
15. Mala Roy
16. Kalipada Soren
17. Deepak Adhikari
18. June Malia
19. Partha Bhowmick

The internal crisis within the TMC comes following its landslide defeat in the state Assembly elections, where it won just 80 out of 294 seats and lost power after ruling over West Bengal for 15 years.