Former aide of Mukul Roy and TMC leader Asif Khan who had quit the party in September 2014, said on Wednesday that he wanted to tender an apology to TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee for his comments about the party.

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“I think my decision at that time had been a hasty one. I was grilled by the CBI for being close to Mukul Roy who was one of the main suspects in the Saradha ponzi firm scam and then I thought I should quit the party because I thought there were impure elements in the party. In hindsight now,I think I should not have said such a thing. I owe my apologies to the party chief Mamata,” Khan said,

Before he quit the party he had also said that he had been asked to put in his papers by some religious leaders. Even to that he said, “I think at that time those religious leaders did not want me in the party.”

Khan said that the way things had been progressing under the BJP-led Central government, if the BJP was not stopped it would spell doomsday for Muslims in Bengal and the entire country as well. “If people like Amit Shah had made statements like they were targeting to win 22 seats in Bengal, they must have made some survey and plans. Now our job is to help Mamata stop BJP ascent in Bengal because she is the only secular leader who had been fighting against the BJP, successfully,” he said.

 “Look what happened in Tripura. The seemingly invincible party was defeated. In Bengal, TMC has won with 39 per cent votes, of which 20 per cent is of the Muslim votes. While the BJP intends to divide the Muslim votes among different parties, we will have to ensure that all of this strengthens the hands of the TMC,” he said.