In a significant development ahead of the general elections, rebel Trinamool Congress leader and MP Somen Mitra who resigned his lok Sabha seat last week following differences with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday joined back the Congress amid much fanfare.
Mitra a veteran leader and a former Pradesh Congress president who joined the Congress along with some of his followers told the gathering at the Pradesh Congress headquarters that the reason why he left the Trinamool was almost the same as “why I left the Congress” six years ago.
“There is no semblance of any law and order in Bengal where corruption, lawlessness, rape and violence is the order of the day,” he said, insisting he had to take the harsh decision of quitting his lok Sabha seat after his repeated appeals to draw the Chief Minister’s attention towards the prevailing anomalies failed.
“I had never bowed my head before and wrong. I had said that I will not join the Congress under the cover of darkness and so I am returning in broad daylight. I am openly staging my comeback after quitting my post,” he said adding he was not an opportunity hunter as he going to a party that had given him a lot and “now it needs my service the most.”
The presence of the central leaders like CP Joshi and Ambika Soni known for their proximity to Janpath rendered the affair conspicuous; more so because of the blunt message it tended send to Banerjee about the Congress’ resolve to go it alone at the hustings, experts said.
Mitra who had left the Congress in 2008 before joining the Trinamool in 2009 to become its MP from Diamond Harbor constituency had first blown the ponzy-fund bugle alleging unholy nexus between the Saradha chit fund owner Sudipto Sen.
Mitra’s joining the Congress could keep the Trinamool in tenterhooks on account of his good chemistry with a number of sitting Trinamool MPs and MlAs. “Somenda has a good rapport with at least 28 Trinamool MlAs who are willing to come out of the suffocating atmosphere in that party and would do so at an opportune moment” a senior PCC leader said.
In fact it was Mitra’s “mischief” within the party that Banerjee had to revive the colonial posts of Parliamentary Secretaries — equaling the rank of a State Minister — in order to contain rebellion, sources said.