West Bengal CPI(M) State committee member Pratik Ur Rahaman resigns from party

The West Bengal CPI(M) suffered a setback on Monday (February 16, 2026), after its State committee member Pratik Ur Rahaman resigned from the party, stating that he was unable to align himself with the leadership’s views and strategies on some issues.

A CPI(M) office-bearer said the party leadership is yet to take a decision on his resignation. Mr. Rahaman was pitted against TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee from the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general election.

He resigned from the CPI(M)’s State committee and its primary membership. “I am unable to align with the party’s district and State leadership’s views and strategies on some issues in recent times,” he said in his resignation letter.

Mr. Rahaman, a young Communist leader who rose from student politics, was the CPI(M) candidate in the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha Constituency in 2024, which was won by Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for the third consecutive term.

“We will speak to him [Mr. Rahaman],” CPI(M) central committee member Samik Lahiri told PTI. In a recent social media post, Mr. Rahaman had said that one cannot be part of a Communist party without principles and ideology.