Rebel Trinamool Congress MP Somen Mitra on Wednesday resigned from lok Sabha and quit his party complaining against the top leadership’s dictatorial ways.
He sent his hand-written resignation to lok Sabha Speaker Meera Kumar. He also met Congress presidnt Sonia Gandhi just before the resignation, the dissident Trinamool leader said.
The development could permanently derail efforts by a section of the Congress leadership to bring Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee back to the UPA fold, insiders said.
Mitra, the sitting MP from Diamond Harbour constituency, who was a Pradesh Congress president before quitting his party and joining the Trinamool Congress in 2009 had not been good terms with Banerjee in the wake of his raising the chit fund issue.
Mitra is likely to rejoin the Congress on January 21. “If they take me in then I will gladly go to the Congress” Mitra said adding “before quitting I had detailed talks with the Congress leadership.” Mitra who was likely to get a Congress ticket also said “if the party I join gives me a ticket then certainly I will contest the polls.”
On his cause of quitting the Trinamool Congress Mitra who has “never lost an election in the past 42 years” said “I do not have any personal grudge against any leader but I felt we as a party have deviated from the high-sounding promises that we made to the public before coming to power.”
Railing against the top party leadership, he said “the Chief Minister had promised restoration of democracy in Bengal but instead of that what we have given the State is pure partycracy and autocracy.”
The Trinamool leaders were talking like goons he alleged saying how “senior leaders are threatening the opposition in public with cutting their limbs and skinning them alive. They are talking in the language of Nazi Germany.” He also alleged how “The Government did precious little to catch the culprits of the chit fund scam.
On whether he had informed Banerjee about his steps, he said he did “but there was no reply from her.”
Mitra’s proposed joining Congress was seen as swimming against the current when most politicians were running towards the ruling outfit. “I know there is a mad rush to join Trinamool Congress. This is the time when I have a lot to give to the Congress rather to take from it” he said.
Though Mitra, the man behind fellow MP Kunal Ghosh’s rebellion, would not divulge anything sources close to him said he was in close touch with at least six other fellow MPs like Subhendu and Sisir Adhikary (East Midnapore), Shatabdi Roy (Birbhum), Tapas Paul and Sucharu Haldar (Nadia), Gobindo Naskar, Dinesh Trivedi and Saugato Roy (North 24-Parganas).
Mitra’s expected joining the Congress could derail hidden talks of seat adjustments with the Trinamool in the coming lok Sabha elections insiders said. According to sources the two parties were working on a formula where the Trinamool would contest from 36 seats while the Congress would be allowed to retain six seats.
However the negotiations could derail after Wednesday’s development even as Mitra said he had “specific talks with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on December 12 when he said that there was no question of any adjustment” with the Trinamool Congress.
Meanwhile, the Trinamool leadership chose to ignore the development saying Mitra’s quitting the party would hardly affect its fortunes.