Somen quits LS, may join Cong

In a setback to the Trinamul Congress, party MP Somen Mitra on Wednesday resigned from his Lok Sabha membership. Since a few months, it was being speculated that Mr Mitra will join the Congress ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
After meeting Lok Sabha Speaker on Wednesday, Mr Mitra told reporters that he had resigned from the membership of the Lower House. Mr Mitra was elected to the Lok Sabha from Diamond Harbour parliamentary constituency in West Bengal. He was previously the state chief of the Congress in West Bengal and joined the Trinamul Congress before the party formed the government in the state. He had joined the Trinamul Congress during the Singur agitation against land acquisition by the earlier Left regime. However, Mr Mitra had recently been critical of the functioning of the party and also of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Mr Mitra is also opposed to the idea of the Congress seeking an alliance with the TMC, sources said. Incidentally, Mr Mitra’s wife Sikha Mitra is also a Trinamul Congress MLA.