In a major jolt to the Trinamool Congress amidst the ongoing political rift within the party, Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray has resigned as a member of the Upper House of Parliament and from the primary membership of the TMC.
In his resignation, Ray slammed the TMC over its massive defeat in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections. He termed the verdict as an outcome of the "15-year anarchical rule" of the Mamata Banerjee-led party, which was driven by widespread unbridled corruption, atrocities committed against women, abysmal failure in the field of health, education, industry, law and order, employment, etc. "In the recently held election to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, the people have given huge mandate in favour of the Bhartiya Janata Party for the first time in the history of the state to put an end to 15-year anarchical rule of the Trinamool Congress arising out of widespread unbridled corruption, atrocities committed against women, abysmal failure in the field of health, education, industry, law and order, employment, etc," he said.
Ray further praised the newly elected BJP government, crediting them for taking developmental steps in favour of the state as per their manifesto. "Meanwhile, the newly elected people's government has started taking initiatives for overall development and reconstruction of West Bengal as per its Election Manifesto. In respectful acceptance of this historic verdict of the people, I have resigned today from the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) as a member and also from the primary membership of the All India Trinamool Congress," he added. Sukhendu Sekhar Ray's resignation comes amidst the ongoing speculations of a split of 20 Lok Sabha MPs from TMC, following the recent rebellion led by expelled party MLA Ritabrata Banerjee in the West Bengal assembly.
Banerjee, who was expelled due to anti-party activities from the TMC, formed a separate faction in the West Bengal assembly with the support of 58 MLAs, and was later elected as Leader of Opposition, replacing Sobhandev Chattopadhyay. The Ritabrata Banerjee faction has been openly criticising the leadership of Abhishek Banerjee, holding him responible for party's debacle in recent State Assembly polls.