TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday said that he is ready to resign from the party if the rebels return to the Mamata Banerjee-led faction.
“Those who left the party and are now abusing or blaming me today… I challenge them to return to Didi (Mamata Banerjee). If they do, I will resign from the party within an hour…,” Banerjee said.
However, he said the rebels who left the party will not return as they have already struck a deal with the BJP.
“But they won’t (return). They have made a deal with the BJP: leave the party, join the rebel camp or the BJP, take protection from the ED, CBI and other agencies and then blame and abuse Abhishek Banerjee,” Banerjee said.
His reaction came days after Mamata Banerjee loyalist Madan Mitra quit the TMC and joined the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel faction.
Mitra had blamed Banerjee for the TMC crisis, but the party said that he was under pressure to defect and took the decision a day after his family members received ED summons.
Around 60 MLAs, 20 Lok Sabha MPs and at least four Rajya Sabha parliamentarians have ditched the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
The MLAs, led by expelled party legislator Ritabrata Banerjee, have formed their separate faction of the TMC and the dissident Lok Sabha MPs have joined a little-known Tripura-based party.
The four Rajya Sabha MPs have tendered their resignations, with three of them already being fielded by the BJP in bypolls.
While a decision on which faction represents the real TMC is still pending before the Election Commission of India, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has approved the merger of 20 Lok Sabha MPs with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India.