Mamata assumes Bengal TMC President’s charge after Chandrima’s resignation; accuses rebel faction of ‘betrayal’

Facing an imminent split in the Trinamool Congress – a party she founded in 1998, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that her opponents will have to “kill” her to “stop” her.

In a video message issued hours after TMC West Bengal president Chandrima Bhattacharya’s resignation and a day after the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel faction took possession of the party’s main office in Kolkata, Banerjee asserted that she will never bow down before the BJP.

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“I will not bow down before the BJP, and my party will not bow down before any pressure,” Mamata said.

Banerjee, who is the TMC chairperson, also announced that she will assume the additional charge of party’s Bengal president.

Earlier in the day, Bhattacharya resigned as Bengal TMC President, saying she was hurt after Banerjee accused her of handing over the TMC Bhavan to the rebel faction.

However, Mamata Banerjee claimed that Chandrima conveyed her real reason to quit the party posts.

“Chandrima Bhattacharya has resigned today. She had already informed me of the actual situation – that she would resign – because her son had previously joined hands with an anti-Trinamool faction,” Mamata Banerjee said.

TMC Bhavan a property of ‘Ma, Mati, Manush’

On the rebel faction taking control of the party office, Banerjee said that the TMC Bhavan is a property of ‘Ma, Mati, Manush’ and that no one can forcibly seize it.

“To those who went to the Trinamool Congress office yesterday and locked it, I say this: we had rented that office. It was leased to us until October 2027. An individual may leave the party, but the institution itself does not cease to exist. It is the party’s property. I cannot simply take it over. No one can forcibly seize the property of ‘Ma, Mati, Manush’,” she said.

Banerjee said that the rebels “betrayed” the very party that gave them “political identity” and accused them of openly working with the BJP.

“You have betrayed the very party that gave you a political identity. Now, you are openly working for the BJP. If you have the courage, go and formally join the BJP. What do you think? That I am dead? We know the chances of the party symbol being allotted to you are slim. When I go among the people wearing this symbol, will you be able to silence my voice?” she remarked.

Referring to the rebel leaders’s recent meeting with the Election Commission of India, the former Bengal CM said that the party symbol was given by her amd won’t go anywhere.

“The party symbol won’t go anywhere. If you want to stop me, you need to kill me,” she added.