CPI(M) expels sitting MP
Facing allegations of “anti-party activities,” Abu Ayesh Mondal, CPI(M) parliamentarian from Katwa, was on Thursday expelled by the ruling Marxists in West Bengal. The sacking came in wake of ant-party ramblings indulged in by Mondal after his exclusion from the list of party candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
A three-time MLA, Mondal was elected to the Lok Sabha from Katwa in Burdwan district in a by election held in 2006 after the death of sitting MP, Mehboob Zaidi.
The charges leveled against Mondal include maintaining secret links with an opposition party and instigating a slander campaign against the CPI(M), say party sources.
Reacting to his expulsion, an embittered Mondal said he was betrayed by the party as was excluded from the list of party candidates without being consulted with.
“Senior party leaders did not have the courtesy to inform me about the party decision. I came to know about it from the media,” he was quoted as saying.
“I joined the party during the crisis, after the rigged elections in 1972, when people were afraid to openly associate with the CPI(M). This is how they treated me,” lamented Mondal.
With elections looming over the immediate horizon, Mondal may soon be back in the political thick with blessings from another party.
