Six-time Trinamool MLA Tapas Roy resigns, quits party also

Cracks in Trinamool Congress widened further as six-time party legislator Tapas Roy tendered his resignation from the membership of West Bengal Assembly on Monday.

He confirmed his resignation after coming out of the room of Assembly Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay to whom he tendered his resignation as per protocol.

Tapas Roy also tendered resignation from all organisational posts in Trinamool Congress, including the primary membership of the party, as confirmed by him. However, he did not say anything about his future course of action.

Sensing that Roy might sever all his ties with the party, state education Minister Bratiya Basu and another rebel Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh rushed to his residence in North Kolkata on Monday morning to persuade him to refrain from taking this extreme step.

However, all their efforts proved fruitless as around 12.15 p.m. Roy came out of his residence and started for the Assembly. He reached the Assembly at around 12.35 p.m. and tendered his resignation.

Before leaving for the Assembly, he pointed out that although Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee initially defended Sheikh Shahjahan on the floor of the House in the ED attack case, she was silent about the central agency's raid at his residence in north Kolkata in connection with the multi-crore municipalities' recruitment case in West Bengal. "This has saddened me immensely," Roy said.

On Monday morning, Roy gave hints about his decision to resign after clearly hinting that a section within his own party was responsible for orchestrating the recent raid at his residence.

"I have been a legislator since 1996. I have not raised the medical bills that were due to me as a legislator. Even after that there was an ED raid at my residence. It has to be seen who orchestrated that," Roy said.

This is not the first time that Roy had raised such an allegation against a section of his own party leadership of conspiring against him. On March 2, when he raised the similar allegations on ED he was more direct in pin-pointing at the sitting Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member of Kolkata (North) constituency Saudi Bandopadhyay and claimed that the latter played a key role in orchestrating the central agency's single-day action at his residence.

(With inputs from IANS)