Siliguri (West Bengal) [India], June 7 : Newly appointed West Bengal Minister Shankar Ghosh said on Sunday that Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee was voted out of power by the people after a period of 15 years.
Trinamool Congress lost the recent assembly polls in West Bengal, and the BJP formed its first government in the state.
"...Mamata Banerjee was removed from power by the people of West Bengal, who now know what kind of politics she has done in the past 15 years...,' he told ANI.
Ghosh received a warm welcome from party workers and locals in Siliguri after assuming the new role.
West Bengal Minister Agnimitra Paul claimed that Mamata Banerjee is slowly losing grip on the TMC. She further questioned the credibility of INDIA bloc in view of the apparent differences within its constituent allies.
The Bengal minister further said that the INDIA bloc has been rejected by people of the country following its poor performance in the recent State assembly elections.
"The TMC is in shambles. The original TMC party is out of Mamata Banerjee's hands. She is going to Delhi to again create commotion...Where is the INDIA alliance? CPI-M General Secretary, M A Baby, has already written a letter to Congress, which has been alleging that CPI-M and BJP are together under the table. Mr Baby's allegation is why are you calling us for the alliance meet when you think you have put this allegation on us...DMK is not participating...The INDIA alliance has been completely sidelined and discarded by the people of the nation"
Meanwhile, amid differences within the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and reports of a possible rift among the party's Lok Sabha MPs, West Bengal Minister Dilip Ghosh on Sunday took a swipe at TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee ahead of the latter's participation in the June 8 INDIA bloc meeting in the national capital.
Speaking to ANI, Ghosh said, "His party is not with him, who will stay with them?"Ghosh's comments come amid speculation that a total of 20 Lok Sabha MPs are to split from the TMC following the rebellion of 58 MLAs in West Bengal, which was led by expelled party leader Ritabrata Banerjee.
Fifty-eight legislators of the TMC expressed support for expelled party leader Ritabarta Banerjee, electing him as the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.
Ritabrata Banerjee, who addressed a press conference recently, said they were going one step at a time. "We have claimed that the legislative party belongs to these MLAs. Two-thirds of the MLAs who have won in the symbol of the Trinamool Congress. The West Bengal State Legislative Assembly, the Speaker, has granted us our claim. So we want to go one step forward, one step at a time," he said.
He also said that he wishes to have former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the 'chief advisor' to the group of rebel MLAs in the assembly.
Amid speculation of multiple leaders leaving, TMC has also announced a leadership shuffle, with leaders Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen appointed as Joint Secretaries at the national level. They will work closely with National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee to assist him in his organisational responsibilities, according to a party statement on Friday.
INDIA bloc is set to meet on June 8, in the aftermath of Mamata Banerjee's crushing defeat in West Bengal assembly elections, where the TMC was reduced to 80 seats, whereas the BJP achieved a landslide majority, winning 208 out of 294 constituencies.