Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday issued a fresh challenge to rebel MPs and MLAs, saying that he would resign from the party in an hour if they were to rejoin the Mamata camp.
"Those who left the party and are now abusing or blaming me today ... I challenge them to return to Didi (Mamata Banerjee). If they do, I will resign from the party within an hour ... But they won’t," he said, as per an ANI report.
He also reiterated the Mamata camp's longstanding claim that the rebel leaders had left due to pressure from agencies such as the ED, CBI, or others.
This would be a major change of heart for the Mamata camp, which has firmly stood by Abhishek since the rebellion in the ranks began with the exodus of 60 MLAs led by Ritabrata Banerjee.
A number of such leaders exiting the party, including Ritabrata, have attacked Abhishek's growing influence over party equations, and Mamata's refusal to listen to their issues regarding the party's national general secretary.
The 'Ritabrata-model' exit was then adopted by another bloc of 20 MPs, led by MPs such as Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Satabdi Roy, which then merged with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) to align itself with the NDA alliance.
As the Mamata camp desperately tries to hold onto its remaining leaders, a few still continue to exit the party through the cracks, opting to either join the BJP, or Ritabrata's rebel bloc.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Banerjee declared that he himself had been summoned by the ED around 10 times, and had also faced questioning by the CBI, STF and the state police.
"I did not run away ... There are 20-30 FIRs against me. I myself do not know the exact number. I have approached the High Court seeking a list from the DGP of all the FIRs registered against me," he said in a PTI video.
