In a curious yet unsurprising development, veteran leader and Trinamool Congress MP Somen Mitra on Wednesday said he “would join the Congress not secretly but by openly announcing my decision.”
The veteran leader, who attended a Congress programme sharing dais with PCC president Pradip Bhattacharya notwithstanding Mamata Banerjee’s stern warning to Trinamool Congress leaders against breaking party discipline, also criticised the way Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Kunal Ghosh was repeatedly subjected to interrogation by the police in Saradha chit fund case.
Somen Mitra, a former PCC president and AICC member who had joined the Trinamool in 2009 “after being repeatedly requested by Mamata Banerjee”, backed Ghosh saying “it is strange that Kunal is being questioned repeatedly from the day he has raised his voice against the party leadership. The people are bound to raise a question or two regarding the real intention of the Government in interrogating Ghosh.”
Incidentally, the Rajya Sabha member who was again summoned by the police on Wednesday for questioning again, said “I will come as many time I am summoned by the police.”
He had earlier been suspended by the Trinamool disciplinary committee. However, the two other rebel MPs Tapas Paul and Shatabdi Roy were “pardoned” after they reportedly tendered a written apology to the Chief Minister for their conduct.
Mitra spoke to the media after emerging from a Congress programme which he jointly attended with PCC president Pradip Bhattacharya. Curiously, he had skipped the Trinamool national council meeting on Monday where Banerjee had issued a stern warning to the party leaders against carrying out anti-party activities.
When asked to comment on his sharing the same dais with the Congress, Mitra said he “has a long association with the Congress which was his original home,” adding without naming Banerjee that the Congress was the “original home of many other leaders and parties.” According to sources, the Trinamool Congress has already prepared a list of “six-eight MPs who may not get ticket in the next year.”
Mitra’s MlA wife Shikha Mitra had earlier been suspended from the Trinamool Congress for anti-party activities. “The way we are being insulted every day it is becoming very difficult to live in this party with dignity and honour,” Ms Mitra had said evading posers about her husband’s plans regarding a second stint with the Congress.