Kolkata: A day after Trinamool Congress (TMC) lost its national party status, former Goa Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro resigned from his post as TMC Rajya Sabha member citing health reasons.
Faleiro submitted his resignation to the Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. While his resignation is believed to have been given on the grounds of ill health, sources said the main reason was his fallout with the party since TMC’s defeat in the Goa Assembly elections.
The TMC said it would announce a new candidate for the seat vacated by Faleiro. TMC also said that the party had asked him to resign. “We wish him good health and happiness. The party had asked him to resign from his Rajya Sabha seat, and it is good that he followed the party’s decision,” said TMC MP Shantanu Sen.
However, when asked why he was asked to resign, Sen refused to comment saying it was an “internal matter of the party”. It is learned that the top party leaders were not happy with the performance of the MP and he was allegedly not following some orders from the top. Falero was being asked to resign for a long time but it did not happen till Tuesday.
While it is not clear whether the MP has also quit the party, sources said he has severed all ties with the Trinamool. Faleiro was sent to Rajya Sabha in 2021 by TMC. To make room for him, the party had asked its former Rajya Sabha MP Arpita Ghosh to step down. Faleiro joined TMC in September 2021 after quitting the Congress party.
After this he was appointed the National Vice President of the party. However, a rift developed between him and the TMC after the party failed to win seats in the February 2022 Goa Assembly elections. It managed to garner around 5.2 per cent of the vote, thus reducing its chances of expanding its voter base beyond Bengal, which was essential.
After initial pushback from the Election Commission of India after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections for the TMC not to revoke its national party status. Faleiro had also refused to contest the 2022 assembly elections from Fatorda against Goa Forward Party’s Vijay Sardesai. Party insiders said this widened the rift between him and the TMC and soon he was removed from party work as well.
However, Faleiro’s resignation has also raised questions over another TMC Rajya Sabha MP, Sushmita Dev, who joined the party from the Congress. With the TMC also outnumbered in Tripura, sources said she may soon suffer the same fate as Falero.
