Mother disowns ‘defector’ Manjul, says will support TMC candidate for Bongaon

“My blessings are with Mamata and from now, I am cutting off all relations with my younger son Manjul,’’ said Binapani Devi — revered by members of the Motua sect as ‘Boroma’— flanked by Mamatabala’s supporters.

The Motua sect forms more than 50 per cent of the electorate of the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat, which is going to bypolls on February 13. Kapil’s death had left the Motua Thakurbari divided. While one faction has announced his wife Mamatabala as his successor, another has named Manjul as the new head.

Both factions had claimed their choice has the endorsement of Binapani Devi, wife of former Sanghadipati Pramatha Ranjan Thakur, who was a minister in the B C Roy cabinet.

Manjul, however, chose not to give much importance to his mother’s decision. “She is 95 and unwell. She has said what she has been tutored to say,’’ he told The Indian Express on Friday.

Meanwhile, at a meeting at her Kalighat residence with the heads of various civic bodies that will go to polls later this year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee vented her anger at Manjul’s desertion and said the party will pay the BJP in the same coin.

“You will have to see to it that security deposit of the BJP candidate is forfeited. Only this will make me happy,’’ Mamata told her partymen.

Minister for Food and Supplies Jyotipriya Mullick, who is from Bongaon and is in charge of the party’s North-24 Parganas unit, has been given the overall charge of the bypolls, said sources. “I will not reveal what Didi has told me but I can tell you one thing. We will win the elections at any cost,’’ Mullick told The Indian Express.

Sources in the party said Trinamool will move court cases against Manjul for alleged defalcation of government funds. Meanwhile, the department of refugee relief and rehabilitation held by Manjul is likely to be handed over to Sabitri Mitra — a minister without portfolio at the state cabinet.