Mollah came out with this observation when asked about the reason behind the Opposition’s success in the panchayat by-elections, the results of which came out yesterday.

“If you want to know why the Opposition was doing well, you will have to find out why we are losing. It is because the party has become rotten from top to bottom and it has to be purged. Otherwise nobody can stop the total destruction of the party,” the minister said.

Just a month ago Mollah was reprimanded by his party for saying that nobody could stop Mamata Banerjee from becoming the chief minister in the 2011 elections.

The minister also said that the party had alienated the masses from it and that is why it has been doing badly in the elections. “Party leaders have developed monopolies in every area. Party leaders act busy when people come to them with a problem. These cancerous elements have eaten into the party structure and they have to be thrown out,” Mollah said.