Hussain, popularly known as Bhulu, was with Banerjee since her Youth Congress days and also looked after Sonarpur area of Banerjee’s south Kolkata constituency.

Before being expelled for “anti-party activities”, Hussain was the election agent of Trinamool’s Jadavpur parliamentarian Kabir Suman. Party insiders read this expulsion as a way to hit out at Suman.

Suman, however, refused to comment on the issue even as his close aides claim that the decision has left him infuriated.

Suman held several meetings with district leaders on Monday regarding the issue.

The move is being seen in party circles as an attempt to signal the Jadavpur parliamentarian to quit the party and the Lok Sabha seat. Hussain, a Banerjee loyalist, said: “Didi was, is and will always be my guiding light in politics. I was with her since she was the state chief of Youth Congress in 1984 and later when she formed the Trinamool Congress.”

On the expulsion, Hussain said: “I am yet to receive the letter. I will communicate my stand to the party and the party chief only after I receive it. I cannot comment anything more on this issue.”

After Mamata Banerjee formed Trinamool Congress in 1989, Hussain was her trusted party worker in South 24 Parganas. He was even made the state secretary of Trinamool Youth Congress for a few years.

“I used to look after Sonarpur area of Didi’s constituency since the beginning. Then she introduced me to Kabir Suman before the Lok Sabha elections and asked me to be his agent,” he said. “I did not know

Sumanda before this. I did whatever Didi asked me to do and worked day and night for Sumanda’s victory,” he added.

The stand-off between Banerjee and her singer-turned politician Suman, meanwhile, continues.

Recently, Suman had sent a text message to his party chief and some other party leaders, expressing his desire to resign from all party posts and the Lok Sabha. According to party sources, Hussain, a party full-timer, used to spend a lot of time in Banerjee’s Kalighat home and was her close aide in Sonarpur.

Hussain played a pivotal role in ensuring Suman’s victory from Jadavpur constituency. After Suman was elected, Hussain became his close aide and looked after his constituency. According to Trinamool sources, it was during this period when Hussain fell out of favour with a section of Trinamool leaders in the area.

“A section of the leaders wanted to use the MPLAD fund on their own terms. They asked Suman to handover the responsibility to them,” said a senior Trinamool leader of South 24 Parganas.