SENIOR TMC MLA Madan Mitra on Wednesday joined the rebel camp led by Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, dealing another political blow to former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s faction, even as the legislator asserted that he continued to remain in the party. The veteran Kamarhati MLA announced that he was resigning from all national and State organisational committees functioning under the Mamata Banerjee-aligned “Kalighat TMC”, besides stepping down as the party’s chief whip in the West Bengal Assembly with immediate effect. The move marks the most significant crossover to the rebel camp since the organisational split surfaced publicly and is expected to further deepen the crisis confronting the Mamata Banerjee-led faction. “I have only changed my room, not my house. I am very much in the TMC,” Mitra told reporters after meeting Ritabrata Banerjee in his chamber in the Assembly.

 

Dressed in a white kurta and wearing his trademark dark sunglasses, Mitra sat beside the rebel leader before declaring that he would no longer hold any organisational responsibility under the Mamata Banerjee-led faction while continuing as a Trinamool Congress MLA. “I am resigning from all national and state committees of the Kalighat TMC. I am also stepping down as chief whip. But I remain a Trinamool MLA,” he said. Over the past few months, the Ritabrata Banerjee camp has steadily mounted a challenge to the former chief minister’s leadership, claiming to represent the “real” Trinamool Congress. The rebels have announced a parallel organisational structure and claimed control of the party headquarters, while the Mamata Banerjee faction has rejected those claims. Speculation over Mitra’s move had intensified since Tuesday night after he visited the Entally residence of rebel MLA Sandipan Saha. Although Saha was away at the time, Mitra held a lengthy discussion with the latter’s father and former MLA Swarnakamal Saha. After returning home, Sandipan Saha spoke to Mitra over the phone, during which the senior legislator expressed his desire to meet him.