The Trinamool Congress has expelled Tanima Chatterjee, the sister of late TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee, and Sachchidananda Banerjee, the former chairman of Pur Nigam, after they refused to withdraw their nomination from the upcoming Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections.
Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s all-India general secretary, had earlier said that Banerjee would be expelled from the party if he did not withdraw nomination as an independent candidate.
Debasish Kumar, a TMC MLA and one of the candidates in the by-elections, announced the decision on Wednesday. He said the duo has been expelled and there was no possibility of them returning to the party team in the future.
Chatterjee, who was first given a place in the list of candidates but later was removed, submitted her nomination as an independent candidate. However, she has repeatedly claimed that she was with the TMC and will remain so in the future.
Upon learning of her expulsion, Chatterjee said that she had no contact with the party. She claimed that the people of the area did not want a TMC candidate so she would fight as an independent candidate.
After the party’s initial candidate list was announced, Chatterjee campaigned vigorously and was quite optimistic about winning. Some of the people in the area also admitted that the manner in which her brother had arranged the ward should not be a problem for his sister.
Banerjee, an independent candidate from Ward No. 72, had earlier said that he has not been a member of the TMC since 2016. His membership was not renewed. So, there is no question of expulsion. Before submitting his nomination for the election, he informed many TMC people including Bobby Hakim and Debashish. However, he still considers himself a soldier of Mamata.