Trinamool Leaders Protest, Break Down After Being Denied Ticket

Several Trinamool Congress leaders voiced their anguish against the party after they were denied nomination for the West Bengal assembly elections with protests being held at a few places.

Four-time Satgachia MLA Sonali Guha, once a close associate of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, burst into tears after learning that she was denied a ticket this time.

"May God give Mamata-didi good sense and counsel, I have been with her from the beginning," said Ms Guha, the former deputy speaker of the state assembly.

Former TMC MLA Arabul Islam, a strongman from Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, broke down in tears as he said that those who have loved the party with their heart have been ignored.

"I will do whatever the local people want me to do," he said about his future plans, as some of his supporters burnt tyres and put up roadblocks in the area in protest.

Supporters of Rafiqur Rahaman, the sitting TMC MLA of Amdanga in North 24 Parganas, blocked the highway in the area after his name did not appear in the list.

A section of the Trinamool Congress's Siliguri leadership also took exception to Omprakash Mishra, a Kolkata resident, being made a candidate from the north Bengal town.

TMC leader Nantu Pal said that the people would not support "an outsider".