Ex-min Chandrima quits party posts, meets rebels

Kolkata: Former Bengal finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, among Mamata Banerjee’s closest aides, shot off a letter to Didi on Saturday resigning from all party posts, including state president and authorised signatory, and immediately went to the Bengal assembly and met rebel MLAs.

She also called on speaker Rathindra Bose to signal her changed allegiance. Chandrima had been made state president on June 3 after rebellion rocked the party.Trinamool called this another example of “son-stroke”, referring to Chandrima’s son, former TMC councillor Sourav Bose, joining the rebel camp last month. The loyalists also claimed Mamata already replaced Chandrima as signatory in a letter to the EC on June 15 and made Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien joint signatories to party accounts.Sources said Chandrima was present at Trinamool Bhawan when the rebels took control of the office on Friday, prompting Mamata to allege that she facilitated the takeover. Didi reportedly told Chandrima that had she stayed back in the office even for 30 minutes more, the rebels could not have locked it up.“I was terribly hurt by the allegations. I was at the Bhawan when Ritabrata and other MLAs arrived, but I was in another section of the building.

I left at my usual time, yet I was accused of facilitating the handover,” she told reporters. She added that the “loss of trust” and allegations indicated her “integrity was under suspicion”. She insisted that her quitting the party was not linked to her son’s joining the rebel camp.

“My son is 47 years old. He makes his own decisions. Since he met the rebel camp at Novotel (on June 22), we have had no discussion about it at home,” she said.Mamata said, “Chandrima had been telling me of her intention to resign for some time. Her son has already joined them. There may be some baggage or luggage to take care of. But I wish them and their families well.”Chandrima, who went to the assembly accompanied by her son, later insisted she was there to complete pension-related paperwork, but added, “Let us wait and see where time takes us.”Speaking to reporters outside the assembly , she made a series of explosive allegations, claiming that despite serving as the finance minister, she was never consulted during the preparation of the state budget.

“I used to present the Budget, but I had no idea what it contained until a few hours before. I would be informed only shortly before presenting it,” she said. Asked why she remained silent for so long, Chandrima said as a minister she was bound by the oath of secrecy.

But now that her integrity and loyalty werequestioned, she no longer saw any reason to remain quiet.Reacting to the development, Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “When Mamata Banerjee was CM , she had the most number of departments. When Mamata Banerjee could give, she was fine, now Mamata Banerjee has nothing to offer, so she is pained. If things were so stifling, why did she not walk out earlier? Why this delayed call of conscience?”A lawyer by profession, Bhattacharya was among TMC’s founder members. She became an MLA in 2011, winning from Dum Dum Uttar, and was inducted into the cabinet and given key portfolios such as law, health and land reforms. She lost the assembly poll in 2016 but was still made a minister and fielded from Kanthi Dakshin for the bypoll .