Kolkata, Jan 20 (IANS) The Congress Friday gave the go-ahead to the West Bengal Congress minister who wished to quit the Mamata Banerjee ministry after calling the chief minister a “dictator.”

The Congress has allowed Manoj Chakraborty to resign, state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharjee quoted Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed as saying.

“I have communicated the message to Manoj,” said Bhattacharjee.

Asked if the Congress would have a replacement for Chakraborty in the ministry, Bhattacharjee said: “We have not taken any decision so far.”

Chakraborty said he was happy.

“I am thankful to the Congress high command. I am very happy. From now on, I will work as a Congress worker to strengthen my party,” he said.

Chakraborty, a minister of state, shot off his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee after Banerjee clipped his wings by taking away two departments in a reshuffle.

Chakraborty then called Mamata a dictator and questioned her performance.

The Congress leadership had earlier ’sympathised’ with Chakraborty, saying he was deeply “hurt and pained” by the sudden reshuffle.

A Congress leader said the green signal to Chakraborty’s plea was a message to the Trinamool Congress that the Congress was not at its mercy and it did not endorse Banerjee’s ignoring of the alliance partner.