Ex-minister Tapan Dasgupta, Mamata's close aide for 4 decades, quit TMC

Trinamool Congress faced another severe political setback on Sunday as former minister and three-time MLA Tapan Dasgupta officially announced his resignation from the party. Speaking at a press conference, Dasgupta, who has been a political associate of Mamata Banerjee for 40 years, stated that he decided to sever ties after consulting with his workers for two months. The veteran politician expressed deep disappointment with the current state of affairs, aggressively declaring that "some brokers have finished the party" from within.

Dasgupta launched a direct attack against Trinamool's top leadership, specifically blaming Abhishek Banerjee for the systematic departure of key party organizers. He claimed that established leaders like Mukul Roy, Suvendu Adhikari, Arjun Singh, and Tapas Roy were intentionally pushed out and sacrificed solely to promote one individual. Furthermore, Dasgupta highly praised West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, describing him as a good leader who is performing well, though he stopped short of announcing which political party he plans to join next.

Internal friction had been building since Dasgupta was denied a ticket in the recent assembly elections, which was worsened when his long-time political rival, Asit Majumdar, was appointed as the Hooghly-Sreerampur organizational district president. Before cutting ties, Dasgupta held several significant positions, including state vice-president of the Trinamool Congress and chairman of the Furfura Development Authority. While he confirmed he has resigned from all organizational and administrative posts, he clarified that he has no immediate plans to retire from active politics.