Kolkata: One of Mamata Banerjee’s oldest confidantes and south Kolkata MP, Mala Roy, severed her ties with Trinamool Congress after resigning as the president of the Trinamool Mahila Congress on June 8, citing “personal reasons”.
Following this, the Trinamool appointed Kaliganj MLA Alifa Ahmed as the new president of the Trinamool Mahila Congress on Friday.
Ever since her 1991 Lok Sabha win on a Congress ticket, the Kolkata South Lok Sabha constituency has always remained with Trinamool. Mamata was its MP until 2011, after which Subrata Bakshi represented it twice, and Mala Roy has represented it since 2019. However, the Trinamool has been pushed back by BJP in four of this LS seat’s seven assembly segments.
Roy’s letter, dated June 8 and addressed to the chairperson of the All India Trinamool Congress, which TOI accessed, stated: “I am grateful to you for reposing confidence in me and entrusting me with this important responsibility. Having served as chairperson of the Trinamool Congress for the past few years with utmost sincerity and dedication, I have always endeavoured to discharge my responsibilities to the best of my abilities. However, due to certain personal circumstances, I find myself unable to continue in the said office and, therefore, consider it appropriate to step down from the post.”
Roy did not respond to calls from TOI.
She is an MP from Kolkata South—the very parliamentary constituency that launched Mamata Banerjee to national prominence for years—and has served as the chairperson of the KMC board. She is also a councillor. After the poll debacle, Banerjee restructured the party organisation and appointed Roy as the president of the women’s wing.
Roy’s resignation comes against the backdrop of 19 rebel Trinamool MPs forming a separate bloc and writing to the Speaker to seek recognition, claiming to be the “real Trinamool Congress”. Five screenshots showing the signatures of the 19 rebel Trinamool MPs surfaced on Friday, containing the names of parliamentarians like Saayoni Ghosh, Deepak Adhikari (Dev), and Mala Roy.
On May 21, Roy surrendered before the chief judicial magistrate at the Alipore court and secured bail, along with her son and 22 co-accused, in connection with a case involving the alleged assault of a BJP worker and threats at gunpoint on election result day. Roy, her son, and others have been booked under the Arms Act and BNS sections.
On Friday, West Bengal Trinamool Congress president Chandrima Bhattacharya sent a letter to Ahmed appointing her as the new president of the women’s wing, with Banerjee’s approval. Later, Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra also shared this news on social media.
Ahmed told TOI, “I sincerely want to express my gratitude to Mamata Banerjee. In these difficult times, she has entrusted me with a great responsibility and believed that I might be able to fulfill this role. All I want to say is that the party is currently going through a tough time. However, I will give my best and try to fulfill my responsibility with the utmost dedication. At the same time, I appeal to all women, especially those associated with the women’s wing, to work together for the women of Bengal and strengthen our party organization and our neta’s hands.”
“We were surprised to see Mala Roy changing camps. But then it is understandable that in the changed political situation, she has taken the decision under compulsion,” said a senior Trinamool functionary.