Kolkata: Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and MLA Madan Mitra, considered close to Mamata Banerjee, has joined the dissident camp led by Rithabrata Banerjee.
The development comes after the TMC suffered a major defeat in West Bengal, following which a large section of the party’s MLAs reportedly broke away as a separate group. Rithabrata Banerjee, who leads that bloc, has been accorded the status of Leader of the Opposition.
Mitra, the MLA from Kamarhati, announced that he is stepping away from all national- and state-level committees of the TMC in Kolkata. He also said he is resigning from the post of chief whip in the Assembly.
Even as he moved to the dissident camp, Mitra maintained that he remains in the TMC, remarking that he had only “changed rooms, not the house.”
The shift has drawn political attention as it came a day after the Enforcement Directorate issued summons to Mitra’s wife and two sons in connection with the investigation into alleged irregularities in municipal staff recruitment.
