Another TMC Rajya Sabha MP resigns, quits Mamata camp
In yet another jolt to the Mamata Banerjee camp of the Trinamool Congress noted Bengali actress and MP Rukmini (Koel) Mullick on Thursday resigned from the Rajya Sabha.
She was elected to the Upper House little more than four months ago — just before the Bengal Assembly elections along with singer-politician Babul Supriyo, former Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar, and senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy.
Her resignation comes barely a day after senior leader and one of the founding members and sitting MLA of the party Madan Mitra quit left Banerjee to join the rebel group of MLAs led by Opposition Leader Ritabrata Bhattacharya.
Firing speculations was Mullick’s brief meeting with senior Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav in whose residence former TMC MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, had met during when they broke away from the parent party to join the Nationalist Citizens’ Party of India thitherto an obscure outfit.
Koel is the daughter of Bengali actor Ranjit Mullick, who has a number of Hindi films to his credit.
Though there was no report on what transpired from Thursday’s talks and though the Mullick household in Kolkata remained tight-lipped about the actress’ future plan of action, talks were ripe that she could soon join the BJP. Thursday’s development also comes on the heels of her three-party colleagues, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Susmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik, quitting as the TMC Rajya Sabha MPs and joining the BJP to file fresh nomination for the Upper House, for which elections will be held next week.
Koel’s quitting the TMC membership and her Rajya Sabha seat barely days ahead of the Monsoon Session. After Mullick’s departure, TMC’s strength in the Upper House comes down to 9.
On Mallick’s resignation, Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said that TMC had become a thing of the past and there was no point talking about it. “Such things are common with the Trinamool Congress… they are finished… these things will keep on happening… so there is hardly any point dwelling on who is quitting and who is not,” he said, adding, “no law of political science would be able to save the beleaguered faction of TMC led by the former Chief Minister.”
