Kolkata: Trinamool Congress Wednesday faced a series of revolts, with a legislator protesting in the assembly premises against graft and another being sacked from the parliamentary secretary’s post for his closeness to general secretary Mukul Roy.
Trinamool leader Shilbhadra Dutta was stripped of his parliamentary secretary post for his perceived closeness to Mukul Roy, who seems to have fallen out of favour with party supremo Mamata Banerjee.
Another key district leader went hammer and tongs against Banerjee, claiming that her widening rift with Roy would eventually trigger the government’s downfall.
In the morning, Swapan Kanti Ghosh, Trinamool legislator from Suri in Birbhum district, staged a sit-in at the gate of the assembly, holding a placard demanding water for his constituency and a roof for slum dwellers while alleging corruption in the local municipality.
Alleging that the Suri municipality siphoned off Rs.10.36 crore meant for central schemes, Ghosh said his repeated letters to Banerjee and Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim on the issue failed to evoke any response.
“I have written five times to Hakim, I also wrote to the chief minister. But none of them responded. For the last two-and-a-half years I have been raising the issue but in vain,” said Ghosh, adding that he would meet union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu next week over the issue.
“If I don’t get any response from him (Naidu), then I will move the Calcutta High Court seeking redressal,” he said while also alleging that he and his driver were manhandled by assembly marshals on the orders of the assembly speaker.
The Trinamool leadership promptly suspended Ghosh.
“The party’s disciplinary committee has unanimously decided to suspend Ghosh forthwith pending an inquiry. Despite being repeatedly cautioned, he acted at the behest of other political parties and made allegations against his own party,” Trinamool secretary general Partha Chatterjee said. Chatterjee, who heads the Trinamool disciplinary panel, said there were allegations against Ghosh which the party will probe. (IANS)
