Kolkata: A day after Enforcement Directorate (ED) served notices on Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra’s wife and two sons in the school job scam, the 71-year-old Trinamool Congress veteran on Wednesday snapped his more than three-decade-old association with Mamata Banerjee and joined the rebel faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee.Following the dramatic flip, Mitra blamed Abhishek Banerjee for his exit while Mamata alleged central agencies and police were being used to intimidate politicians into switching camps.Seated beside Ritabrata in the latter’s Assembly chamber, Mitra announced he had resigned from all organisation posts in Mamata’s camp. “I was in Trinamool and I remain in Trinamool. I have merely moved from one room to another. That room perhaps had a comfortable bed. This room perhaps has only a cot. I have chosen the cot,” he said.He, however, expressed gratitude towards Didi, saying she stood by him for years, and added that he had apologised to her in a WhatsApp message before switching sides.Mitra then launched a direct attack on Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, accused him of exercising unchecked authority and eroding the party’s internal democracy.“Mamata Banerjee was and remains our leader. But we told Abhishek to step aside for six months so that we could rebuild the party. The party is sinking, yet everything is being done to save one individual. The party belongs to everyone, but now it seems it belongs only to Abhishek,” he said.Asked whether the ED probe had influenced his decision, Mitra replied, “AB is more frightening than ED. Abhishek is the primary reason I left. I was suffocating there. The party belongs to its workers, not to Abhishek. It cannot be run like Hitler.”He also challenged investigators to prove that he accepted money in exchange for jobs, recalling that he spent 27 months in jail in the Saradha chit fund case without speaking against the party.Hours later, Mamata hit back during a Facebook Live session, claiming she expected Mitra’s decision after he messaged her the day before to inform her that ED had issued summons to every member of his family.“One person has left even today, and I have no regrets. He had messaged me yesterday saying ED had summoned every member of his family. I understood the situation then itself,” she said. “Those who want to leave are free to go. Whoever remains will be my gold mine.”Mamata also alleged that police pressure is being used to engineer the defections. “Police are turning up and telling people to either come with them or join those sitting in BJP’s lap. They are threatening to arrest sons, daughters and entire families,” she claimed.Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra echoed the charge, claiming that Bengal was witnessing the trend of politicians switching sides after receiving summons from central agencies or police. She added that she, too, faces investigations but has not abandoned the party.“When such a senior neta tells us that his family is under pressure, I want to ask — are we orphans? Am I an orphan? Has CBI not come to my house? Has ED not summoned me? Yet we are still standing firm. So why be so afraid?” she asked.Mitra and Mamata share a political association spanning more than three decades, beginning their careers in Congress before founding Trinamool Congress in 1998. Mitra remained one of Didi’s closest associates even after his 2014 arrest in the Saradha chit fund case. She fielded him from Kamarhati while he was in jail during the 2016 Assembly elections, a contest he went on to win.On July 4, Mamata had appointed him Trinamool’s state general secretary. But Mitra’s visit to the residence of Entally MLA and Ritabrata camp neta Sandipan Saha on Tuesday night fuelled speculation about an imminent crossover.Mamata also alleged that police pressure is being used to engineer the defections. “Police are turning up and telling people to either come with them or join those sitting in BJP’s lap. They are threatening to arrest sons, daughters and entire families,” she claimed.Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra echoed the charge, claiming that Bengal was witnessing the trend of politicians switching sides after receiving summons from central agencies or police. She added that she, too, faces investigations but had not abandoned the party.“When such a senior neta tells us that his family is under pressure, I want to ask — are we orphans? Am I an orphan? Has CBI not come to my house? Has ED not summoned me? Yet we are still standing firm. So why be so afraid?” she asked.Mitra and Mamata share a political association spanning more than three decades, beginning their careers in Congress before founding Trinamool Congress in 1998. Mitra remained one of Didi’s closest associates even after his 2014 arrest in the Saradha chit fund case. She fielded him from Kamarhati while he was in jail during the 2016 Assembly elections, a contest he went on to win.On July 4, Mamata had appointed him Trinamool’s state general secretary. But Mitra’s visit to the residence of Entally MLA and Ritabrata camp neta Sandipan Saha on Tuesday night fuelled speculation about an imminent crossover.
