India, July 17 -- Former leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Madan Mitra on Friday rejected allegations that he exited the Mamata Banerjee camp of the party fearing probe and Enforcement Directorate raids. Mitra said that he left the party because he felt more efforts need to defeat the BJP than what the TMC currently is doing.

"The ED didn't scare us. They didn't call or threaten us... Why mix politics with the ED?... I felt that to defeat the BJP, we needed to put in more effort than the way the Trinamool was operating from Kalighat. I wanted to support this new, assertive Trinamool... She chased me away. So I left too," Mitra said.

He went on to praise new Bengal chief minister, Suvendu Adhikari, and said, "There is no doubt that...