CPI(M) drops Ritabrata from party's state committee

The state CPI(M) on Tuesday dropped party's Rajya Sabha member Ritabrata Bandyopadhyay from the party's state committee.

Bandyopadhyay was inducted in the state committee in 2016. A three-member commission was set up to probe into the allegations made against him. Some party leaders had alleged that his lifestyle was not in accordance with the party lines. Some months ago, a party sympathiser had uploaded a photograph of Bandyopadhyay in which he was seen wearing a costly wrist watch. Infuriated over the incident, Bandyopadhyay called up the HR department officials where the person worked and asked them to take action against him. The matter did not go down well with the party and Bandyopadhyay was reprimanded. Senior party leaders had earlier cautioned him against using costly pens and cell phones. But Bandyopadhyay did not listen to them.

It was learnt that many women party workers had complained against him and their allegations had been probed into. The three-member commission recommended that he should be dropped from the state committee. There was a hot debate over the issue. It may be recalled that it was Bandyopadhyay who had raised the issue of giving responsibility to young leaders in the Party Congress held in the city in 2016. Bandyopadhyay, a close aide of former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, rose to fame due to his patronage. He was sent to Rajya Sabha. But because of his arrogance, he soon became very unpopular in the party.