Regularly humiliated: 2 weeks after joining BJP, Ex-Kolkata Mayor wants to quit party
Sovan Chatterjee had taken a sabbatical from active politics.
Kolkata: Former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who joined the BJP earlier this month, has expressed desire to quit the saffron fold for being "regularly humiliated", his close associate Baishakhi Banerjee claimed on Saturday.
Chatterjee, a four-time TMC MLA, had joined the BJP along with Banerjee in New Delhi on August 14.
"Since joining the BJP, we are being regularly humiliated and insulted without any reason. Sovan Chatterjee had taken a sabbatical from active politics. It was I who played a key role in bringing him back and made him join the BJP," she told reporters here.
"If we are being humiliated, then we could have stayed back in TMC only. Therefore, we have expressed our desire to leave the party. If needed, we would send our resignation to the BJP leadership," Banerjee added.
Chatterjee, once a trusted aide of Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, is yet to make any public announcement on quitting the BJP. Reacting to the development, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said he will look into the matter.
According to sources in the saffron party, Sovan and Baisakhi had recently met BJP national general secretary and its Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya, expressing their desire to quit the party.
The two are understood to have been miffed over recent developments related to two-time TMC MLA Debashree Roy seeking to join the BJP, they said, adding, she had made an unsuccessful attempt to meet Ghosh at his residence earlier this week.
Roy had also visited the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on August 14, following an assurance by a senior state party leader that she could switch over to the saffron fold, but was met with opposition from Sovan, the sources said.
The Bengal BJP chief has said he had no objection to Roy joining the party.
Sovan Chatterjee was asked to step down both as a minister in the TMC government and as Kolkata mayor by the chief minister in November last year, following troubles in his personal life.