Two weeks after joining BJP, 'humiliated' Sovan wants to quit

Kolkata, Aug 31: Former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who joined the BJP earlier this month, has expressed desire to quit the saffron fold for being "regularly humiliated", his close associate Baishakhi Banerjee claimed on Saturday.

Chatterjee, a four-time TMC MLA, had joined the BJP along with Banerjee in New Delhi on August 14. "Since joining the BJP, we are being regularly humiliated and insulted without any reason. Sovan Chatterjee had taken a sabbatical from active politics. It was I who played a key role in bringing him back and made him join the BJP," she told reporters here.

"Therefore, we have expressed our desire to leave the party. If needed, we would send our resignation to the BJP leadership," Banerjee added. She did not elaborate on what exactly prompted the two to consider severing ties with the BJP, many of whose senior leaders were present when they switched over to the saffron fold at a function in the national capital.

Chatterjee, once a trusted aide of Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, is yet to make any public announcement on quitting the BJP. The state BJP leadership declined to comment on the issue and said it will have a dialogue with the two.

Chatterjee was asked to step down both as a minister in the TMC government and as Kolkata mayor by the chief minister in November last year, following troubles in his personal life.