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HomePolitics‘Feel mental pain’ — Trinamool MP posts cryptic FB message as protest...

‘Feel mental pain’ — Trinamool MP posts cryptic FB message as protest chorus grows in party

In a Facebook post, three-term MP Satabdi Roy says she is ‘trying to make a decision’ so she can serve people in a better way. She will announce the ‘decision’ on 16 January. 

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Kolkata: Trinamool Congress’ three-term MP and noted actor Satabdi Roy Thursday wrote a cryptic post on Facebook addressing the people of her constituency, Birbhum, suggesting disenchantment with the party. 

In the post, Roy said she felt “mental pain” at being “left out of several party programmes organised in her constituency and not being able to work for people”. 

Roy added that she was “trying to make a decision” so that she could serve the people in a better way. She will announce the “decision” on 16 January, she added.

That is also the day when state minister Rajib Banerjee, who has been vocal about his disgruntlement with the party, has promised to go live on Facebook to directly speak to his supporters and followers — according to a Facebook post Monday.

The two leaders’ social media posts come a fortnight before Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s scheduled visit to West Bengal, and weeks after several Trinamool leaders — including seven MLAs, led by Suvendu Adhikari — joined the BJP in Shah’s presence.

Bengal is headed for elections later this year, and the BJP has been aiming to form its first-ever government in the state. 

Serving its second term at the helm in Bengal, the Trinamool Congress has been facing criticism from several sections within the party. 

Within three weeks of Adhikari’s defection, the Trinamool Congress removed his father Sisir Adhikari, another veteran MP, as the party’s East Midnapore district chief and as chairman of the Digha-Sankarpur Development Authority, a government post.

The Print reached Roy through calls and texts, but didn’t receive a response until the time of publishing. Calls to Banerjee went unanswered. 

A senior Trinamool Congress leader, meanwhile, dismissed the social media posts as gimmicks, and questioned their timing.


Also Read: Why Mamata’s nephew, Bengal’s ‘rajkumar’ is targeted by Trinamool members too, not just BJP


‘Left out’ 

Roy’s late-evening post was titled “To the people of my constituency in Birbhum”. In it, she wrote that “nowadays many people have been asking me why I am not seen in many programs”. 

“I tell them I want to go everywhere. I love being with you. But I guess some people don’t want me to go to you. I don’t get many program news (sic). How can I go if I don’t know? I also feel mental pain with this,” she added. 

“In the last 10 years, I’ve spent more time representing you or yours than my home, trying my best to work, even the enemies admit it. So, this new year, trying to make a decision so that I can be with you fully. I am grateful to you all,” she said. 

Since 2009, Roy added, “you have sent me to the Lok Sabha supporting me”. “Hope to get your love in the future too. After a long time, the people of Bengal have loved me just as a century verdict. I will also try to do my duty”.

“If I take any decision, I will inform you on Saturday, 16 January 2021, at 2021 pm,” she added. 

Banerjee, in his post, said he had always “considered social media as a major platform to reach out to everyone easily”. 

“I will be live on Saturday and will interact with you all,” he added. 

In December, addressing a public programme, Banerjee said “people with abilities have been sidelined in the party”. Suvendu Adhikari’s departure from the Trinamool, he added, had created a “void”. Banerjee has been skipping cabinet meetings since December. 


Also Read: Trinamool MP ‘compares Lord Ram’s devotees to rapists’, angry BJP says police not filing FIR


‘Gimmicks’

Trinamool Congress maintains that the disgruntled leaders did not express their concerns to the party, and instead took recourse to social media. Trinamool MP Sougata Roy said, “I have not talked to Satabdi for a long time. But if the party assigns me, I will try to address her concern.” 

Another senior Trinamool leader, who did not want to be named, added, “Expressing grievances on social media or in public is against the party’s discipline. Three months before the election, why are they criticising the party in public? There must be some reason or some deal. But, these gimmicks will not affect our party’s electoral prospects. People of Bengal only look up to Didi and nobody else.” 

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said “many leaders of Trinamool are unhappy in the structure. “People who want to work for people are welcome in BJP,” he added.


Also Read: ‘Bengali pride’ of two Gujaratis won’t work for BJP. But TMC has an ‘outsider’ problem too


 

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1 COMMENT

  1. Danga DIDI is trying to get leftist and CONGRASS together to form an alliance against infidels.

    HINDUS must vote for a party which will not discriminate against HINDUS and protect their progressive culture from RIOTERS AND PROSELYTIZERS.

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