Hours after Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh shared a stage with a BJP Lok Sabha candidate and praised him, the TMC on Wednesday removed him from the post of state general secretary for making statements not aligning with the party.
Declining to spell out his next move, Mr Ghosh said he would like to "continue in the party in future." The former Rajya Sabha member who has been seeking more prominence for next-generation leaders, said he had already expressed his desire to resign as party spokesperson and state general secretary in March.
The party then accepted his resignation as spokesperson but asked him to continue with the other post.
"Kunal Ghosh has been expressing views that don't align with the party. Mr Ghosh was previously relieved from his role as party spokesperson. Now he has been removed from the position of general secretary of the state organization," the TMC said in a statement.
In the statement signed by TMC Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O'Brien, the party also asked media outlets not to conflate Ghosh's views with those of the party, warning that doing so might invite legal action.
"It is important to clarify that these are his personal opinions.... Only statements issued from the AITC (All India Trinamool Congress) headquarters should be considered the official position of the party," it said.
Reacting to his removal, Mr Ghosh said, "There is no point in saying I am being removed as I had already put in my papers as party's state general secretary and spokesperson."
He lamented that the party decided to clip his wings when he was "working as a loyal soldier of the party." "It is ironic that the opposition leaders are happy that Kunal Ghosh has been asked not to speak out for his own party. I was with the party, I am with the TMC and would like to continue in the party," he said.
Despite his removal from the post of party spokesperson, he has been holding press conferences regularly from the party headquarters during the ongoing Lok Sabha election campaign.
A senior TMC leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described Ghosh's removal as a "calibrated punishment," indicating that his removal as state spokesperson in March was a warning, and this removal as state general secretary is the final action.
Mr Ghosh did not take part in TMC's Kolkata North Lok Sabha constituency Sudip Bandopadhyay's rally, but attended a blood donation programme where BJP nominee Tapas Ray was present.
At the programme, Mr Ghosh said, "Tapas Ray is a true leader. His doors are always open for party workers and people. I have known him for several decades. Unfortunately, our paths are now different... I am hopeful that the elections will be free and fair, and that no unscrupulous means will be used to retain the seat. Let the people cast their votes freely," he added.
Mr Ray, a four-term TMC MLA, joined the BJP in March after the party re-nominated its incumbent MP Sudip Bandopadhyay in the Kolkata North seat. The BJP then fielded Ray against Bandopadhyay.
Reacting to Mr Ghosh's expulsion from his post, Mr Ray said, "Whom they will suspend or expel is their internal matter. I have nothing to say about it. But it proves TMC doesn't believe in courtesy in politics." Ghosh, considered close to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, had kicked off a storm this year that the old guards in the party need to know when to step aside for the next generation.
He had also accused a section of old guards, including Sudip Bandopadhyay, of being hand in gloves with the BJP.
Following this, Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee herself issued a stern warning instructing party leaders to abstain from publicly discussing differences, emphasizing that any violation may lead to disciplinary action.
The controversy erupted in November last year when Ms Banerjee advocated respecting senior members and dismissed the notion that old leaders should retire from active politics.
TMC national general secretary and Mamata Banerjee's nephew, Abhishek, endorsed a retirement age in politics and cited a decline in work efficiency and productivity with advancing age.
A journalist by profession in the vernacular media, Mr Ghosh's rise and fall in the TMC has been a matter of debate.
A vocal critic of the Left Front regime, Mr Ghosh was rewarded with a Rajya Sabha nomination by the TMC in 2012.
However, after the Saradha Chit fund scam bubble burst in 2013, Mr Ghosh, then CEO of the Saradha media group, openly clashed with the TMC.
He was arrested in November 2013 in connection with the Saradha Chit fund scam and was subsequently suspended by the party.
Later, after the CBI took over the investigation, Mr Ghosh continued to speak out against the leadership. In 2016, he was granted bail by the court.
In July 2020, he was appointed TMC's spokesperson, and in June 2021, he was appointed the party's state general secretary.
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