NEW DELHI: West Bengal minister and veteran TMC leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay resigned as MLA from Bhawanipore assembly seat on Friday as party supremo Mamata Banerjee is likely to contest bypoll from the constituency, party sources said.
Banerjee, who lost the recently concluded elections from Nandigram, needs to get re-elected to the assembly within six months to hold on to the chief minister’s chair.
Bhawanipore was her stronghold and she was an MLA from the seat but chose to contest from Nandigram this time where she lost to Suvendu Adhikari.
Chattopadhyay said that it was a decision of the party and he will abide by it. “This is my decision as well as that of the party. I am happily abiding by it,” the minister said as quoted by PTI.
“I have enquired from him if he has resigned voluntarily and without coercion. I am satisfied, and I have accepted his resignation,” says West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee.
The septuagenarian politician, sources said, is likely to contest from Khardah seat, where bypoll has been necessitated following the death of party leader Kajal Sinha.
(With inputs from agencies)
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