Asish Banerjee , the former deputy speaker of the West Bengal assembly and a five-time Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA, was found dead at the party’s office next to his house in Birbhum this morning, with the police recovering a purported hand-written suicide note.
He had also served as the deputy speaker of the Assembly and held ministerial portfolios, including school education and agriculture, in the Mamata Banerjee government. In the purported one-page note in Bengali, the 74-year-old allegedly wrote that no one was responsible for his death and said he felt that entering politics had been a mistake. Banerjee, who won the Rampurhat assembly seat for 25 consecutive years, allegedly wrote that he had never been involved in corruption and had never taken money in exchange for any work. His death comes months after Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool lost power in Bengal following its 15-year rule, with the BJP forming the government for the first time in the state.
He also told his family members not to get involved in politics in the future. Banerjee mentioned the Tarapith-Rampurhat Development Authority (TRDA) and said he had no role in its tender-related decisions, cheque issuance, plan approvals or no-objection certificates.
