Partha Chatterjee's letter to Mamata Banerjee questioning suspension from TMC unlikely to get a response

Kolkata, Nov 12 (IANS) The letter written by former West Bengal Education Minister and former Trinamool Congress (TMC) Secretary General Partha Chatterjee to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, seeking clarification on his suspension from the party following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July 2022, is unlikely to elicit any response from the party leadership.

According to senior Trinamool Congress leaders, the instructions are clear that the party leadership will totally ignore Chatterjee, and hence there is no question of giving any reply to his letter or even acknowledging the receipt of the letter.

"A section of grassroots workers who have remained close to Chatterjee reportedly shared news of the letter on Tuesday night. However, we have not received any communication from the person or persons to whom the letter was addressed. So, unless any instruction in the matter from the high command comes, it is assumed that the leadership will ignore the matter totally,” a party leader said on Wednesday morning.

Chatterjee was released from judicial custody on Tuesday afternoon after spending three years and three months behind bars in connection with the school-job case, and on the same evening, he sent a letter to the Chief Minister seeking clarifications on the sections of the party constitution of Trinamool Congress under which his primary membership from the party was suspended.

In his letter, Chatterjee is said to have pointed out that while the party leadership had in the past stood by leaders arrested by central agencies, an exception was made in his case.

To recall, after his arrest by the ED officials in July 2022, Trinamool Congress stripped the former West Bengal Education Minister of all his ministerial and organisational portfolios and also suspended his party membership for an indefinite period.

The Trinamool Congress even abolished the post of the party's Secretary General, which was previously held by Chatterjee.

--IANS

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