West Bengal minister and veteran TMC leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay on Friday, 21 May, resigned from his Bhawanipore Assembly seat, as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to contest bypoll for re-election to the West Bengal Assembly.
Banerjee had lost from the Nandigram seat, in the recently concluded elections. To hold on to the chief minister’s chair, she needs to get re-elected to the Assembly within six months.
“I am going to resign as the MLA of Bhawanipore seat. I will tender my resignation today. This is my decision as well as that of the party. I am happily abiding by it,” the agriculture minister told PTI.
Chattopadhyay was quoted as saying, "I am not under any pressure to resign. But I have come to know that Mamata Banerjee wants to contest from Bhawanipore. It is her seat, so she should contest from there only."
Saying that there’s no pressure, Chattopadhyay added that Chief Minister Banerjee had won twice from Bhawanipore and when he heard she wants to contest from here, he thought he should vacate his seat.
“Nobody else has the courage to run the government. I spoke to her. It was her seat, I was just protecting it,” news agency ANI reported.
As per sources, Chattopadhyay is likely to contest from Khardah seat, where bypoll has been necessitated following the death of TMC leader Kajal Sinha.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI)
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