ED pressure or 'Hitler' Abhishek Banerjee? Decoding Madan Mitra's move to Ritabrata camp of TMC

Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra on Wednesday moving to the Ritabrata faction of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is the latest shock for the Mamata camp.

The longtime Mamata loyalist was seen alongside Ritabrata, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, after announcing his resignation from all party posts, and reportedly apologising to the TMC supremo on WhatsApp.

Sporting sunglasses and a white kurta, the MLA's appearance alongside Ritabrata has been viewed as a bold statement, but has also sparked questions on why the senior leader from the 28-year-old party founded by Mamata Banerjee chose to jump ship.

Abhishek Banerjee or ED pressure?

"I was in the Trinamool, I stayed in the Trinamool. I just went from this room to that room," he said, as per an Anandabazar Patrika report, downplaying the move.

Amid the meeting with Ritabrata, he is also said to have recited a cryptic poem on nearing the end of his career, and making decisions based on it.

More importantly, he later openly claimed that it was Abhishek Banerjee's "Hitler-like manner" that was driving him away, adding that "AB is more dangerous than the ED".

“Those who are using Abhishek as an excuse to leave the party are only making excuses. Abhishek is still fighting and continues to stand by the people. There is no point in hiding behind such excuses," said Mamata, in response to Madan's claim about Abhishek being the reason for his exit.

Notably, a number of leaders from the original set of 60 MLAs that first departed from the Mamata camp had also criticised Abhishek's growing influence within the party and his style of overseeing party operations.

Yet, Madan Mitra stayed on despite multiple waves of exits from the Mamata camp, which earned him a number of posts—president of the Dumdum-Barrackpore organisational district and responsibility of the state's hawkers' organisation, in addition to his MLA portfolio.

However, Madan's Wednesday exit has also been attributed to pressure from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

This is because just a day earlier, his wife and two sons had been summoned by the ED in connection with a corruption case.

The three have been summoned for questioning next week over their links to alleged money laundering pertaining to a municipal recruitment scam case, a PTI report said, citing a senior security official.

However, the Kamarhati MLA claimed that his move to the Ritabrata camp was "not linked" to pressure from the ED case.