Four leaders were absent from a Cabinet meeting held by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, 22 December, furthering the possibility of more Trinamool leaders switching political camps before next year's Assembly election.
Partha Chatterjee, the Secretary-General of the ruling party informed that three members were away for valid reasons, NDTV reported.
However, the Forests Minister and the MLA from Domjur, Rajib Chaterjee, was reportedly unreachable till late evening. He has expressed his incongruence with the party several times over the past few weeks.
At a public meeting in Kolkata in November, he spoke about sycophancy and nepotism in the party, alleging that it was of a great disappointment to him that "yes men" were rising in prominence.
His disapprovals echoed those of Suvendu Adhikari, the former Trinamool leader who joined the BJP last week. He had also spoken disapprovingly about Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee joining the party.
Even though Rajib Banerjee has denied association with Adhikari, saying that his comments should not be linked to his former colleagues, his absence at the Cabinet meeting might be an indicator of his ceasing interest in the party.
Among the other missing ministers were North Bengal Development Minister Rabindranath Ghosh of Cooch Behar, Gautam Deb, the tourism minister from Darjeeling district and Chandranath Sinha of Birbhum, NDTV reported.
Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP on 19 December. His associates reportedly informed the BJP that they can “break” the Trinamool Congress in 3 months.
(With inputs from NDTV)
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