Team News Riveting
Kolkata, January 5
Former cricketer and West Bengal Minister of State (MoS) for Sports and Youth Affairs Laxmi Ratan Shukla on Tuesday resigned from the Mamata Banerjee-led state cabinet.
Shukla sent his resignation to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and the party’s state chief Subrata Bakshi. The resignation was accepted by the chief minister as well, sources said.Shukla, a legislator from North Howrah Assembly constituency, was the TMC president in Howrah district.
The 39-year-old will step down from that party post as well. Shukla, however, evinced interest to complete his tenure as MLA in the state legislative assembly.
This is the second “wicket” Mamata Banerjee has lost in a short span of two days. A day before, Suvendu Adhikari, who was considered as TMC’s Nandigram face, quit the party and joined the BJP.
He charged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sidelined other leaders to establish her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee. Suvendu Adhikari also said more from TMC will join the BJP.
The former all-rounder had joined Trinamool in 2016 and became a junior minister in the state’s sports ministry as the party came to power for the second consecutive term in Bengal. He was appointed as the new party president in Howrah district last year, replacing veteran district TMC leader and state cooperative minister Arup Roy.
Shukla said that the former Bengal all-rounder is not going to join any party immediately. He will probably take some rest for the next few days, from the mainstream political activities, and after that would decide the next course.
Shukla had played three ODIs for India in 1999 and also represented Bengal and East Zone in over 100 first-class matches. In the Indian Premier League (IPL) he played a total of 47 matches.
