Kolkata, June 1 (IANS) Trinamool Congress supremo and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday launched an attack on expelled Trinamool Congress legislator Ritabrata Banerjee, without directly naming him, and referred to his expulsion from the CPI-M in 2017 when he was a CPI-M Rajya Sabha member.

“The CPI-M did the right thing by expelling him. After his expulsion from the CPI-M, he came to me and begged for rehabilitation. We felt pity and first nominated him to the Rajya Sabha again. This time we nominated him as the party candidate from Uluberia (Purba), denying the ticket to another leader. Now, after winning from there, he is betraying the party. So, we have expelled him and another party legislator,” Mamata Banerjee said in a live social media message on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, she also launched a scathing attack on four-time party Lok Sabha member Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who had recently resigned from all organisational posts in the Trinamool Congress, accusing a fellow party Lok Sabha member of insulting women MPs from the party.

“That MP is angry now because we did not fulfil her wish for the candidature of her son in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections. How can we give nominations to anyone just because his or her parents are elected public representatives? I have such a large family. Barring me and Abhishek Banerjee, no one else from our family is holding an elected public representative position,” the former Chief Minister said.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress has changed the venue of Mamata Banerjee’s sit-in demonstration in Kolkata on Tuesday to protest against the demolition of illegal buildings and the eviction of hawkers allegedly encroaching on railway land.

Initially, the Trinamool Congress had chosen Rani Rashmoni Avenue in central Kolkata as the venue for the protest programme.

However, since Kolkata Police denied permission to hold the programme there, the Trinamool Congress, following the advice of the police, decided to organise it at the nearby Y-channel from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

–IANS

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