Voice of decent against alleged dynastic politics seems to have begun in the Trinamool Congress with senior party MP Kalyan Banerjee reiterating that he "will continue in the Trinamool Congress till Mamata Banerjee is around … no one except her is my leader.”
Referring to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s statement that he for one was opposed to any public gathering ---political or religious --- for another two months in view of rising corona cases, Kalyan Banerjee said that “such decisions are taken by our supreme leader Mamata Banerjee and not anyone else.”
He said “such statements need her approval and since my leader MamataBanerjee has not spoken anything about it I will assume that it is nother view … in that case I do not subscribe to whatever he (Abhishek) has said.”
On whether he regarded Abhishek Banerjee --- who is also the nephew of the Chief Minister --- as his leader the TMC Lok Sabha Chief Whip said, “I consider only Mamata Banerjee as my leader … I am around till sheis there … I do not accept anyone else as my leader.”
Attacking Abhishek for making a statement that was in tune with what the BJP demanded Kalyan Banerjee said “whatever he said matches witht he views of the BJP … because his statement came soon after the BJP leadership made similar statements … but did he (Abhishek) tell anything about the UP elections … did he tell anything about thecrowds gathering in other parts of the country.”
Though there was no immediate reaction from the Chief Minister another senior leader and party disciplinary committee chairman Patrho Chatterjee asked all sides to make statements commensurate to the party policy.
“No statement against any leader that goes against the party’s conductrules will be tolerated … everyone is asked to exercise restraint,”Chatterjee said even as State party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said cognizance of Kalyan Banerjee’s statements would be taken by the party.
Another TMC MP from Hooghly Aparupa Poddar too came out against Kalyan Banerjee seeking his resignation as the Chief Whip. “He knows full well that Abhishek Banerjee is the party national general secretary and we are bound to follow his line … now after he has made statements against him, Kalyan Banerjee should resign as the Chief Whip of Lok Sabha because he has acted like Bivishana --- the epic figure of Ramayana who left his brother Ravana the demon king to join the ranks of Lord Rama.”