Burying the hatchet with Ajit Panja, one of the founders of the Trinamool Congress, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, party chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday revoked his suspension from the party.

Making the announcement at a Trinamool Congress rally in Kolkata, Banerjee said, "Panja has issued a statement expressing his willingness to return to the party fold and accept my leadership."

The rally was attended by several party MPs and MLAs, including estranged MP Sudip Bandopadhaya.

Mamata had suspended Panja from the party for 'anti-party' activities over two years ago after he publicly criticised her decision to leave the National Democratic Alliance before the 2001 assembly elections in West Bengal.

The suo motu announcement by Mamata, without any pre-condition, came days after a section of the party demanded, at a recent working committee meeting, that Panja make an appeal to the party in writing to revoke his suspension.

Panja, who was hoping for a comeback with Banerjee's intervention, had urged her to 'forget the past' though he refused to write a letter to the party that he wanted his suspension to be revoked.

More reports from West Bengal