Maverick CPI(M) MLA Abdur Rezzak Mollah expelled from party

Maverick CPI(M) leader Abdur Rezzak Mollah, one of the party's key Muslim faces in West Bengal who had repeatedly trashed the party leadership as "incompetent and authoritarian", was today expelled for "serious anti-party activities".
Announcing the expulsion of Mollah, an unbeaten Marxist MLA since 1972, the state CPI(M) in a statement here said the action was taken against him for "serious anti-party activities and for tarnishing the party's image in the eye of the people".
It said that the CPI(M) invoked Article 19(13) of its constitution to expel Mollah, the minister for land and land reforms in the erstwhile Left Front government, and the decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the party's state secretariat during the day.

Reacting to the decision of the party, Mollah who often crossed swords with former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on several issues including his industrial policies, told PTI "I welcome the decision".