Deeply hurt by personal attacks, had to quit Cabinet: TMC MLA Rajib Banerjee

Banerjee broke down into tears saying, he never thought he would have to take the decision to resign

Shortly after resigning from the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, senior TMC leader Rajib Banerjee on Friday said he quit the state forest minister's post as he was "deeply hurt" by the personal attacks aimed at him for airing grievances against a section of party leaders.

He, however, declined to comment when asked if he plans to quit the party in the days to come.

"I had grievances against some of the party's senior members and informed the leadership about it. I also had a word with party supremo, but nothing happened. Instead, I was personally attacked by a section of the leaders," said Rajib.

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Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, Rajib indicated that one of the key reasons behind his decision was the lack of “courtesy” of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee when she removed him from the post of Irrigation Minister.

“There should have been minimum courtsey. Next day I told the Chief Minister that I wanted to resign as Minister. Then she dissuaded me,” said Rajib.

For the last two years, I have repeatedly conveyed my grievances to the Chief Minister and senior leaders. For the last one month comments of some party leaders have hurt me a lot. Hence I have to take this tough decision,” said Rajib.

Breaking down in tears Rajib said that he never thought that he had to take such a decision.

“I will always be grateful to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the opportunities she had given me. I have taken this decision due to untold grievances,” said Rajib.

"I was deeply hurt by the personal attacks aimed at me. Hence, I resigned from the Cabinet," he told reporters after meeting Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at Raj Bhavan.

The Domjur legislator said earlier, too, he had decided to quit the state Cabinet, when removed as the irrigation minister without any notice, but Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had stopped him from doing so back then.

He, however, thanked the chief minister profusely, and said that he would always remain "indebted to her for allowing him to serve the people of the state".

(With inputs from DHNS)