Kolkata, July 16 (IANS) In another setback to the Trinamool Congress, former state minister and ex-MLA Manish Gupta on Thursday announced his decision to quit the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

Although he has not yet officially submitted his resignation letter, he has clearly told the media that he no longer feels he has a role in the Trinamool Congress, which is why he has decided to leave the party.

However, new political speculation has started surrounding his announcement.

Manish Gupta said that even though he joined Trinamool, he has been kept on the sidelines for the last five years and has not been utilised.

He said he would not say he regrets it, but there are many such reasons. He added that at the same time, age is a big issue, so he is leaving Trinamool and also leaving politics.

He further said that he is 84 years old and has decided not to do politics anymore. He added that he is not in any camp and has decided to leave politics.

Political controversies surrounding Manish Gupta are not new. He was the state’s Home Secretary during ‘Mahakaran Abhijan’ on July 21, 1993. On that day, 13 workers were killed in police firing during the Youth Congress movement.

Controversy has surrounded him for a long time because of that incident. A section of the opposition alleged that the role of those in administrative charge at that time also needed to be investigated.

Since then, Congress and later Trinamool Congress have been organising Martyrs’ Day rallies on July 21 every year to commemorate the 13 martyred Youth Congress workers.

But during the political upheaval in 2011, Mamata Banerjee left that past behind and brought Manish Gupta into active politics. He was given a Trinamool Congress ticket to contest from Jadavpur constituency in the 2011 state Assembly election, considered a Left bastion.

Manish Gupta defeated his former boss, the then-incumbent Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who had been the MLA of this constituency for 24 years.

Gupta later served as a member of the state cabinet. That is why his current decision is considered significant by political circles.

–IANS

sch/dan