145;Humiliated146; Sudip to join Trinamool

The state Congress unit8217;s plans for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls suffered a setback with senior leader and MLA Sudip Bandyopadhyay announcing on Sunday that he will soon rejoin the Trinamool Congress.

The state Congress unit8217;s plans for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls suffered a setback with senior leader and MLA Sudip Bandyopadhyay announcing on Sunday that he will soon rejoin the Trinamool Congress.

Bandyopadhyay was in the midst of a controversy when he shared the dais with Trinammol chief Mamata Banerjee in Singur against the wishes of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee WBPCC chief Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi. He attributed his decision to 8220;constant humiliation8221; at the hands of the WBPCC leadership ever since. The MLA will soon visit New Delhi to meet Banerjee.

Addressing mediapersons on Sunday, Bandyopadhyay said:

8220;I have been humiliated by the present PCC leadership over the last three months. I was bypassed and not consulted or informed when the voters8217; list was being prepared in my own constituency of Bowbazar.8221;

8220;I have met Congress president Sonia Gandhi twice in the last two months and have brought her up-to-date with the situation. I had also written to her explaining how difficult it was to win any seat in south Bengal in the coming Lok Sabha poll without a seat-sharing arrangement with the Trinamool,8221; he added.

He further said that he was not been invited to join the WBPCC delegation which had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Raj Bhavan earlier this month.

Pradip Bhattacharjee, WBPCC working president, however, denied Bandyopadhay8217;s allegation. 8220;Any member was free to quit the party if he or she wishes to do so. He was given due importance in party matters,8221; he added.

Bandyopadhyay8217;s decision what can be counted as the second major blow for the state Congress in the last six months. In July, long-time Congressman Somen Mitra had quit to form his own party 8211; Pragatisheel Indira Congress. Mitra had not only walked out with a large number of Congress workers, but has allied with the Trinamool.

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Originally a Trinamool leader, Bandyopadhyay gained prominence when his former party joined the NDA coalition at the Centre. He was, however, later expelled for allegedly bypassing Banerjee to be inducted in the Union Cabinet.

In 2006, he was elected to the Assembly as a Congress-backed Independent and eventually joined the Congress. Bandyopadhyay is the chairman of the Standing Committee on Commerce and Industry in the Assembly.

The state Congress has been further weakened by the illness of Dasmunsi, who is undergoing treatment at a Delhi hospital in for over a month now. While Congress sources indicated that there is no move at the moment to replace him, the matter had come up for discussion during the visit with the Prime Minister.