In a big setback to the Trinamool Congress ahead of the forthcoming State Assembly polls, party MP Dinesh Trivedi on Friday announced his resignation from the Rajya Sabha. He said he was taking this step as he felt helpless to do anything against the violence taking place in his State.
During the last few weeks, the TMC has been rocked by a spate of defection. A number of leaders have resigned from the party and joined the BJP. They include Rajib Banerjee, Sovan Chaterjee, Suvendu Adhikari, and Laxmi Ratan Shukla.
Making the announcement about quitting the RS membership, Trivedi said he was resigning after listening to his conscience. Saying that he feels suffocated in the House as he is unable to do anything against the violence going on in his State, he added, “If you sit here quietly and cannot do anything, then it is better that you resign from here and go to the land of Bengal and be with people.”
Trivedi said the world looks at India when something happens. “What I mean to say is the way violence is taking place in our State. Sitting here, I am feeling perplexed as to what should I do,” he added.
“I am grateful to my party that it has sent me here, but now I feel a little suffocated. We are unable to do anything and there is atrocity (going on). My voice of conscience is saying what Swami Vivekananda used to say — arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached,” Trivedi said, while announcing his resignation from the House.
Reacting to the development, Bengal Minister Tapas Roy said, “His (Dinesh) status has never been better than that of a political go-between … a Gujarati bania (businessman) as he has acted like one.” He added that Trivide’s presence in the party had neither benefited it nor his absence will hurt the TMC.
“Trivedi has left the party not responding to the call of his “Antar Atma (soul) but Pret Atma (ghost) and he will be rejected by the people in this State,” Roy who was most vociferous against the former Railway Minister said.
Trinamool MP Kakoli Ghoshdastidar said that Trivedi left the party after a deal with the BJP. “He must have been promised more by the BJP and so he has left the Trinamool,” Dastidar said while her Lok Sabha colleague Kalyan Banerjee called him a “Gaddar” (traitor) like those other leaders who left the TMC in the past few months.
Speaking with ANI, BJP General Secy Kailash Vijayvargiya said if Trivedi wants to join Bharatiya Janata Party, we will welcome him. “Not just Dinesh Trivedi, whoever wants to do honest work, cannot stay in Trinamool Congress”, Vijayvargiya added.
Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh said there is a due process for resigning from the House and asked Trivedi to submit his resignation in writing to the chairman.