Sovan Chatterjee is yet to make any public announcement on quitting the BJP
Former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who joined the BJP earlier this month, reportedly wants to quit the party for being "regularly humiliated", his close associate Baishakhi Banerjee claimed on Saturday. Ms Banerjee too reportedly wants to quit, she said.
Mr Chatterjee, a four-time Trinamool Congress MLA, had joined the BJP along with Ms Banerjee in New Delhi on August 14.
"Since joining the BJP, we are being regularly humiliated and insulted without any reason. Sovan Chatterjee had taken a sabbatical from active politics. It was I who played a key role in bringing him back and made him join the BJP," she told reporters.
"If we are being humiliated, then we could have stayed back in TMC only. Therefore, we have expressed our desire to leave the party. If needed, we would send our resignation to the BJP leadership," Ms Banerjee added.
She did not elaborate on what exactly prompted the two to consider severing ties with the BJP, many of whose senior leaders were present when they switched over to party at a function in Delhi.
Sovan Chatterjee, once a trusted aide of Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, is yet to make any public announcement on quitting the BJP.
West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said he will look into the matter.
According to BJP sources, both Sovan Chatterjee and Ms Banerjee had recently met BJP national general secretary and its Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya, expressing their desire to quit the party.
Apparently, they are miffed over recent developments related to two-time TMC MLA Debashree Roy seeking to join the BJP, they said, adding, she had made an unsuccessful attempt to meet Dilip Ghosh at his residence earlier this week.
Ms Roy had also visited the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on August 14, following assurance by a senior state party leader that she could switch over to BJP, but was met with opposition from Sovan Chatterjee, the sources said.
The Bengal BJP chief has said he had no objection to Debashree Roy joining the party.
Sovan Chatterjee was asked to step down both as a minister in the TMC government and as Kolkata mayor by the chief minister in November last year, following troubles in his personal life.