TMC MLA Jitendra Tiwari has resigned from Trinamool Congress. He described Suvendu Adhikari as the most popular leader of the party after Mamata Banerjee.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee appears to be struggling to keep her flock together ahead of West Bengal Assembly elections. Hours after her former close aide Suvendu Adhikari formally resigned from the party, another MLA Jitendra Tiwari quit on Thursday.
Tiwari also resigned as the chief of the Asansol Municipal Corporation alleging that he was not being allowed to work. However, he has not quit as the MLA of Pandabeswar.
ALSO READ: Mamata Banerjee's TMC dares Modi govt to impose President's rule in Bengal
Talking to reporters in Asansol after announcing his decision, Tiwari described Suvendu Adhikari as the most popular leader of TMC after Mamata Banerjee.
"I have resigned from the post of the chairman of the Board of Administrators of Asansol Municipal Corporation. If I am not allowed to work, what will I do with the post? So, I resigned," he said.
"There is no point in continuing in the TMC as I am not being allowed to work for the people," Tiwari, who was the Paschim Bardhaman district chief
of the Trinamool Congress, said.
While it is almost certain that Suvendu Adhikari will be joing the Bharatiya Janata Party during Union Home Minister Amit Shah's Bengal visit this weekend, Tiwari refused to reveal his next move. The leader alleged that his office was ransacked soon after he resigned from the TMC.
"I had earlier said that whatever I had to do, I will do after talking to Mamata Banerjee. But after I resigned from the Asansol Municipal Corporation, my MLA office was attacked. This was done on the instructions of a senior TMC leader. So I decided to quit the party," Tiwari said.
Tiwari wrote to state Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim a few days back, stating that the Asansol Municipal Corporation has been deprived of Rs 2,000 crore central funds as the state government had created hurdles in its selection in the smart city project.
Training his guns at the minister, Tiwari said, "Sycophants like him are destroying the party. "
(With inputs from PTI)
