Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray Quits Amid Spiralling Crisis

The Trinamool mutiny has finally reached Parliament, and as fate had it planned, it occurred when party chief and former chief minister Mamata Banerjee is in Delhi. In a big setback for Banerjee, who has just lost power, veteran leader Sukhendu Sekhar Ray has quit her party and resigned as Rajya Sabha MP, blasting what he called "unbridled corruption" during the Trinamool regime.

"The people have given a huge mandate in favour of the BJP for the first time in the history of the state to put an end to 15-year anarchical rule of the Trinamool Congress arising out of widespread unbridled corruption, atrocities committed against women, abysmal failure in the fields of health, education, industry, law and order, employment, etc," he said. 

Read: Fear, Anxiety And 'Missing' Leadership: Inside The Trinamool Mutiny

This comes at a time the Trinamool is facing a massive internal rebellion that threatens to split the party, soon after it lost the public mandate and the government in West Bengal.

Ray reached Parliament this morning to tender his resignation. He also gave up his Trinamool membership. Though he did not explicitly declare if he would join the BJP, he appears ready to cross over to the ruling side. Hours after his exit, Ray paid a visit to BJP leader Bhupendra Yadav's house. Chief MInister Suvendu Adhikari was also present there.

Sukhendu Ray Praises BJP

In his press note, Ray showered praises on West Bengal's new BJP government, stating that it has started taking initiatives for overall development and reconstruction of West Bengal as per its election manifesto.

"In respectful acceptance of this historic verdict of the people, I have resigned today from the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) as a member and also from the primary membership of the All India Trinamool Congress," he said. 

Ray later told reporters that the Trinamool leaders were so drunk on power that they believed they had become invincible. 

Sources had earlier told NDTV that at least 20 out of Trinamool's 41 MPs from both Houses had been in touch with the BJP and may be planning to switch sides. Saugata Roy, a senior Trinamool MP, claimed he had received an offer to join the BJP, but he rejected it. "I will stay in the party on whose symbol I won the election," he told news agency ANI.

Besides the 20 MPs, at least 60 out of the party's 80-odd MLAs had also been backing a rebel side after the election debacle last month.

Read: Trinamool MP Quits Party Posts, Cites RG Kar In Bombshell Letter

Ray's exit comes ahead of a key huddle by the opposition INDIA allies, for which Mamata Banerjee reached Delhi a day ago.

A day earlier, the MP had warned of a dark political future for the party. He did not mince his words when he said, "This party will not survive." He also claimed that the rebellion would soon reach Parliament, in what can be counted as a hint at his exit.

Last month, he told NDTV that he knew this debacle was inevitable and that the "future appears absolutely bleak" for the party.

His resignation not only weakens the Trinamool and the Opposition in the Upper House but also robs Banerjee of one of her trusted leaders who had been by her side since she came to power in Bengal in 2011.

Another Lok Sabha MP, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, had earlier given up party posts citing the RG Kar rape-murder and the I-PAC highhandedness, but chose to remain in the party.