Kolkata: West Bengal Minister of State for Youth Services and Sports Laxmi Ratan Shukla resigned from his post on Tuesday. He has also quit as the Howrah district Trinamool Congress president. Both resignations have reportedly been accepted by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Shukla has also sent a copy of his resignation to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, according to PTI.
A former cricketer, Shukla had captained the Bengal Ranji team and was recently seen visiting former national captain Sourav Ganguly at a Kolkata hospital after the latter suffered a heart attack. He appears as a commentator on sports channels.
The minister’s resignation comes four months before the scheduled Bengal assembly polls and two weeks after Trinamool’s Medinipur heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari quit the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Shukla is MLA from Howrah (North) and has mentioned in his resignation letter that he would like to retire from politics and would like to continue as legislator till the end of term. This has quelled to some degree rumours of a move to BJP.
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Although Shukla has not spoken to reporters yet on why he chose to quit both roles, it is well known that the Howrah wing of the Trinamool Congress has been rife with faction wars.
Forest minister and Domjur MLA Rajib Banerjee has been vocal in his disappointment with TMC leaders. He was recently heard alleging in a video that some functionaries treat party workers as their servants. Bally MLA Baishali Dalmiya too has reportedly made her dissatisfaction with TMC known. Both Domjur and Bally are in the Howrah district.
Besides, Howrah MP and former footballer Prasun Banerjee too has spoken publicly against Shukla. Anandabazar Patrika has reported that a few days ago, the MP said at a public function on January 1 that Shukla “had not formed any committees or done any work.”