Won't go anywhere, I'm very much part of TMC: Jitendra Tiwari

Kolkata: Taking a complete u-turn, former Asansol Mayor Jitendra Tiwari on Friday cleared his stand of continuing with the Trinamool Congress.

"I have not gone anywhere and will continue to be a part of the Trinamool Congress as I have been doing for so many years," Tiwari said after coming out of an hour-long meeting with senior party leader and PWD minister Aroop Biswas in presence of Prashant Kishor at Suruchi Sangha club in South Kolkata's New Alipore area.

He further said: "I really felt very sad to learn that Didi (Mamata Banerjee) was pained by my moves. I will seek an apology from her and would continue to work for the party."

The Pandaveswar MLA, who has quit from the post of the chief of Asansol civic body, reached Kolkata on Friday, accompanied by his wife and held a meeting with Biswas in the evening. "I made a mistake saying that I will not be with the party. I withdraw whatever I had said earlier," he further stated.

Biswas later added: "Tiwari was in the party, he is in the party and he will be in the party. He will fight against BJP till his last breath. There is nothing unusual if some problem crops up in a family. It has to get sorted and it has been done in this case."

In reply to a question, Tiwari said he would like to meet Banerjee whenever she calls him. "She is the Chief Minister of our state. Being a worker of the party, I will go to meet her whenever she gives time."

It may be recalled that Tiwari had earlier raised an issue regarding the smart city project for Asansol. Firhad Hakim, the state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister, on Friday wrote to Tiwari clarifying that Asansol Municipal Corporation never figured in the list for the project.