Former TMC leader who switched to the BJP requests to rejoin party

Former Trinamool Congress MLA Sonali Guha, who jumped ship to join the BJP ahead of the assembly elections, wrote to CM Mamata Banerjee requesting to be taken back into the TMC fold.

"I am writing this with a broken heart that I took the wrong decision of joining another party after being emotional. I could not get accustomed there," she said. The four-time MLA had joined the saffron party after being denied a party ticket.

"The way a fish cannot stay out of the water, I will not be able to live without you, Didi. I seek your forgiveness and if you don't forgive me, I won't be able to live. Please allow me to come back and spend the rest of my life in your affection," she wrote in Bengali.

There has been no official reaction from TMC yet. However, senior party leaders have come to the fore against taking Guha back into the party.

"Mamata Banerjee gave her everything, but what did she do? She deserted her (Banerjee) and the Trinamool just before the elections when the party needed her the most. If she comes back to the party, it will send out a wrong signal to our workers and all the people who had left the party and joined the BJP before the polls," a senior Trinamool leader said.

When contacted about her decision, Guha said, "My decision to join the BJP was a wrong one and I can feel that today. I did not bother to tell the BJP about leaving that party. I always felt unwanted there. They tried to use me and asked me to badmouth Mamata-di. I could not do that."

Guha expressed her willingness to meet the CM and resolve the matter. "I will personally try to meet Didi but she is the chief minister and must be busy. You cannot expect her to give you time whenever you seek an appointment," she said. "I will go to her residence next week on the day when the last rituals of her brother who passed away recently are scheduled and try to talk to her."