'Criminalisation has spread in TMC': Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar quits Barasat post, blames I-PAC

KOLKATA: TMC Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar resigned from the post of the party's Barasat organisational district president on Sunday. In a letter addressed to state party president Subrata Bakshi, she stated that she was stepping down taking moral responsibility for the party's defeat in Barasat. While doing so, she attacked political consultancy agency I-PAC indirectly.

"I think that the way this organisation has worked and abused us, the way they put pressure on us, this is not the way to work. Wherever they go, I think they will produce dangerous results in the elections," Ghosh Dastidar said in her letter.

A TMC veteran and chairperson of the woman's wing, 4-time MP Ghosh Dastidar has long been associated with party chief Mamata Banerjee and has often been seen participating in movements alongside her. She also was TMC's chief whip in the Lok Sabha. However, following the party's poor performance in the 2026 assembly elections, she was removed from the post of chief whip and replaced by Kalyan Banerjee.



In her resignation letter, Ghosh Dastidar referred to allegations of corruption within the party in recent times and appealed to Banerjee to rely once again on honest, experienced and dedicated party workers to restore the party's image.

Later, speaking at a press conference, Ghosh Dastidar alleged that young I-PAC staffers behaved poorly with grassroots workers. "I have seen how those young boys and girls treated party workers. I have been a public representative here for 17 years. My office has remained open to the people round the clock. I have worked extensively across all seven assembly segments under my constituency. I expected people to stand by us. But the election results showed otherwise. Criminalisation has spread across all levels in the party. I can't accept that TMC has come down to 80 seats," she said.

She added, "The way this organisation ( I-PAC )has worked, put pressure on us, this is not the way to work. Wherever they go, they will produce dangerous results in the elections."