West Bengal: TMC expels Bally MLA Baishali Dalmiya; will stay with people, she says

KOLKATA: In a step that may have reverberations beyond politics, Trinamool Congress on Friday expelled Baishali Dalmiya, the party’s Bally MLA.
The expulsion didn’t have a timeframe and wasn’t preceded by a usual show-cause, which, leaders indicated, was meant to serve as a “strong message” to detractors.
Dalmiya had been speaking out against the Trinamool’s Howrah leadership and a couple of times against I-Pac, but her statements recently became shriller after the resignation of ministers Laxmi Ratan Shukla on January 5 and Rajib Banerjee on Friday.Amid all this, Dalmiya had also made a “courtesy call” to Raj Bhavan.
In a two-line statement, TMC said: “Disciplinary committee of Trinamool meets. Baishali Dalmiya has been expelled from the party.” Party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: “The manner in which she was speaking before elections is unacceptable. Party leaders and workers do not endorse this. The party has taken this decision.”
Dalmiya, in her immediate reactions to the media, said: “The action only proves what I said earlier — that rot has set in the party. People who are detrimental to the party, working against its interests, are remaining in the party and those who want to work for people are being forced to leave. Is talking for people against the party’s interests? I will always stay with people.”
Dalmiya did not respond to calls from TOI.
On Friday, she again spoke out against TMC’s Howrah chairman and minister Arup Ray, accusing him of being “dismissive”. “Being a minister is ornamental. He is an MLA, like all of us. But he behaves like the chief minister of Howrah,” Dalmiya said.
The expulsion announcement came immediately after. Ray said, “This is the right decision. The party must act against people who speak against the party and try to harm it. There may be personal grievances, but this should be told to the party.”
Last December, a poster war had broken out in Bally, later amplified on social media, bringing the rift to the fore. This followed an incident in which a Dalmiya loyalist reportedly stormed into a meeting of ex-councillors — moderated by I-Pac — leading to a free-for-all. It took a broader turn after Dalmiya met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. Raj Bhavan had on December 18 posted on Twitter that Dalmiya had discussed “governance issues”.
Dalmiya’s expulsion coincides with political events with links to CAB.
After Shukla’s resignation, former CAB administrator Biswarup Dey joined Trinamool two days back. Dalmiya’s brother Avishek had been elected unopposed as CAB president in February 2020, a post vacated when Sourav Ganguly took over as BCCI president.