Days after speculations about a rift between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress leader Satabdi Roy, the party on Sunday announced her appointment as the vice president of the state unit, reported PTI. The development followed after last week Roy expressed displeasure with the party’s leadership saying that she was facing problems.

“I am very happy with the decision,” the Trinamool Congress MP from Birbhum district said, according to The Indian Express. “I welcome this decision as the top leadership has reposed faith in my abilities. This goes to show that if one has any reservations against the party, the top leadership is ready to address such issues.”

On Thursday, Roy had created a stir when she left a cryptic message on social media. In the message, which was posted on one of her fan pages on Facebook, Roy hinted that she faced problems with the ruling party in West Bengal, and that she may take a decision to leave the TMC soon. “If I take a decision, then I will let you know at 2 pm on the 16th of January,” the post read.

However, on Friday, she clarified that she was not going to leave the Trinamool Congress as her “problems with the party” had been addressed by fellow MP Abhishek Banerjee. She also reiterated her allegiance to Mamata Banerjee.

Roy’s ambivalent statements had left the TMC leadership in a tizzy. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party said that Roy’s internal conflict over her ties with the ruling party had exposed the fragile condition of the Trinamool Congress.

The TMC has been witnessing an exodus in the run up to the Assembly elections in West Bengal. Several party leaders have switched sides and joined the BJP.

Political turmoil in the Trinamool Congress started after former state minister and a close associate of Mamata Banerjee, Suvendu Adhikari, quit from the party. After a long drawn period of public dissatisfaction with the ruling TMC, Adhikari joined the BJP during Amit Shah’s two-day visit to West Bengal on December 19. He resigned from all the positions he held in the Trinamool Congress on December 17. This came a day after he resigned as a member of the Legislative Assembly and almost 20 days after he resigned as West Bengal transport minister. He had quit from the post of chairperson of the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners too.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Roy had made her electoral debut and won from the Birbhum seat. She had then defeated Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Ram Chandra Dome, and was able to secure the seat with an overwhelming majority in 2019, despite the Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempts to race against the Trinamool Congress in the nearby constituencies.

Meanwhile, along with Roy, Siraj Khan, who had switched sides to the BJP last year, was inducted back into the Trinamool Congress on Sunday. “It was a mistake to join the BJP,” he told The Indian Express. “There is a way you can work for the people there. I began to understand that I made a mistake by leaving the Trinamool Congress. Therefore, I decided to return to the party.” Khan is a part of the East Midnapore Zilla Parishad.

The West Bengal Assembly elections is expected to take place in the next few months.

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‘I am with Trinamool,’ MP Satabdi Roy clarifies after speculation about ties with Mamata Banerjee