Three months after losing a by-poll, West Bengal minister Humayun Kabir resigned Saturday, two days ahead of the six month period mandated by the constitution within which a minister must get elected to the legislature.
Kabir, who won the 2011 elections from Rejinagar in Murshidabad district on a Congress ticket, resigned from the seat and the party and switched over to the Trinamool last November. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made him minister of state for animal husbandry Nov 21 last year.
The Trinamool, which hoped to utilise Kabir's services to dent Congress leader and his former mentor Adhir Chwodhury's base in Murshidabad, got a rude jolt when Kabir finished third in the Rejinagar bypoll.
Despite a clamour from the opposition for Kabir's resignation then, Banerjee asked him to continue.
"The chief minister has asked me to work for the party organisation in Murshidabad," said Kabir.