Once one of the closest aides of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar resigned from all party posts, including chairperson of TMC’s women wing, on Wednesday.This comes a day after the Barasat MP and six TMC MLAs – Anisur Rahaman (Deganga), Burhanul Mukuddim (Baduria), Bina Mondal (Swarupnagar), Surajit Mitra (Basirhat South), Usharini Mandal (Minakhan), and Abdul Matin Muhammad (Haroa) – attended an administrative meeting chaired by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari in Kalyani.Dastidar, who has been voicing her disappointment with party leadership since TMC’s debacle in the Assembly elections earlier this month, raised the issue of corruption and treatment of women leaders in the party.Following the defeat, TMC had replaced Dastidar with Kalyan Banerjee as the party’s chief whip in Lok Sabha.“After deep thought and mental anguish. I am forced to write this letter… During my tenure, it has not been possible to stop the inappropriate behaviour of another uneducated and ill-mannered MP towards women MPs, nor has adequate cooperation or empathy been received from the higher leadership. Remaining in such a position no longer holds meaning,” she wrote in her resignation letter to state TMC chief Subrata Bakshi, referring to Kalyan Banerjee, who was earlier removed as the party’s Lok Sabha chief whip over his behaviour with the party’s women MPs.Raising the issue of corruption in the TMC government, she wrote, “Corruption in ration distribution, corruption in teacher recruitment, and various financial and administrative irregularities have created deep anger and distrust among ordinary people… In addition, the unnatural death of a female doctor at RG Kar Medical College and the allegations of evidence tampering surrounding the incident have shaken and distressed society. I have personally felt the moral impact of these incidents very deeply.”She once again reiterated her criticism of the party hiring political consultancy firm, I-PAC, for poll preparations… “The influence of various individuals and groups has troubled me continuously. I believe that if opaque and undemocratic influences gradually dominate the organization instead of a democratic political culture, it cannot be considered beneficial for the party’s ideals and traditions,” she wrote, adding her decision to quit all party posts was “not driven by any personal grievance or resentment”.“Rather, I am taking this decision out of my moral responsibility toward the party, democracy, and public life,” she said, asserting she was not leaving the party.Story continues below this ad“As an ordinary worker of the Trinamool Congress, I will continue my commitment to stand beside people and work in the interest of Bengal,” the senior TMC leader wrote.On May 24, Dastidar had resigned from the post of the party’s Barasat district president, blaming I-PAC for “ruining the party”.Meanwhile, on Tuesday, two TMC MLAs — Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandeepan Saha — had a closed-door meeting with Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari was also present in the meeting.Sources said the two legislators had raised questions over campaign management and leadership decisions at a closed-door post-result meeting called by TMC supremo and former chief minister Mamata Banerjee earlier this month.Story continues below this ad“We exchanged greetings with the Speaker and also with the chief minister. We will continue our constructive opposition,” Ritabrata Banerjee told reporters.Asked why he suddenly decided to meet the Speaker, he said there had been no opportunity earlier. Sandeepan Saha, too, insisted the timing was purely coincidental. “We went for a courtesy meeting as newly elected legislators.Incidentally, the chief minister was there too. We exchanged greetings. I once did politics under him. Nothing beyond that,” he said.Senior BJP leader Saumitra Khan has claimed that around 20 TMC MPs were in touch with the party, ready to switch sides if the party leadership gave its approval, a claim the opposition outfit dismissed as “bogus”.Story continues below this adThe TMC currently has 29 MPs in the Lok Sabha out of 42 from West Bengal, whereas the BJP has 12 and the Congress has one.“Twenty TMC MPs are in touch with us. If the party leadership wants, they are ready to switch sides. If the BJP wants, the entire TMC will wind up in the next few days,” Khan, a three-term Lok Sabha MP, told reporters on Tuesday.Under the anti-defection law, at least two-thirds of the members of a parliamentary party need to switch sides together to avoid disqualification. In the TMC’s case, with 29 MPs in the Lok Sabha, the number works out to around 19 or 20.Rejecting Khan’s claims, senior TMC MP Sougata Roy termed the reports as “baseless”.Story continues below this ad“It is absolutely bogus what the BJP and Soumitra Khan are feeding to reporters. Nothing of this sort will happen,” Roy said.With PTI