Former Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra on Wednesday resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“I have given my resignation,” Mitra told ANI. “I have not decided when or where I will join, I am not going to disclose it,” he said. Mitra reportedly submitted his resignation to BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday.
Mitra refused to comment on reports that he may join the Trinamool Congress on July 21, reported The Indian Express. The Trinamool Congress, however, said that Mitra might join them. “Talks are on with him and he may join us shortly,” TMC Lok Sabha MP Sisir Adhikari told The Indian Express.
An unidentified Trinamool Congress official said senior leaders had met Mitra in Delhi. “He has shared his willingness to join Mamata Banerjee,” the official said. “We are confident that he will join TMC.”
Earlier this week, Mitra had met TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, but denied that it was about him joining the party. “I met her [Mamata Banerjee] about an advertisement in my paper in Kolkata,” he told The Hindu on Monday.
Mitra was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from August 2003 to 2009. In June 2010, BJP got him elected to the upper house from Madhya Pradesh. His term ended in 2016. Mitra is the editor and managing director of English newspaper The Pioneer.
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