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Kolkata: The
continuing suspense drama over the Dinesh Trivedi episode has not
been the best advertisement for West Bengal's ruling Trinamool
Congress. But what could be more ominous for the Mamata Banerjee-led
party is the way the railway minister is almost pushing the
leadership to the wall.
Initially, the Barrackpore MP, who has fallen out with the
leadership after raising passenger fares in his railway budget
last week, said as a loyal soldier of the party he would quit the
moment Banerjee asked for his resignation.
However, on Saturday after Trinamool parliamentary party chief
whip Kalyan Banerjee asked him to make a graceful exit as per the
party's wish, Trivedi demanded a written communication from Mamata
Banerjee. The reason he hinted at is "confusion".
"On the floor of parliament it is being said no resignation has
been demanded. And after that now I am being asked over phone to
quit. So I should know the truth," Trivedi told reporters in
Delhi, stumping the party.
The railway minister has already got open support from
singer-turned-Trinamool MP-turned dissident Kabir Suman, and more
importantly, latent endorsement from some other disgruntled
Trinamool MPs.
"I have appealed to Dineshda not to resign unless the prime
minister asks him to. We need upright men like him. And every
party should understand that the railway ministry is not a thing
that can be fiddled around with," said Suman, who is using the
media to drum up public support for Trivedi.
But Suman, not known for his political astuteness, unintentionally
spilt the beans on Trivedi's gameplan. "He told me that the masses
needed to be told everything. The issue needed to be taken to the
public."
Apart from the overt backing of Suman, Trivedi is believed to have
the covert support from a Trinamool MP who was earlier an
organisational pillar in the Congress and a one-time bęte noire of
Mamata Banerjee. The MP is reportedly unhappy over being made to
play a marginal role in the Trinamool organisation.
A couple of other Trinamool MPs from a western district, who
publicly swear by the party chief, have also been expressing their
discontent for long in close circles. But the wily politicians
they are, the duo do not want to risk their political career at
this juncture by coming out into the open at a time when the
Banerjee government is yet to complete even a year in office and
still retains much of its popularity.
With the Trinamool having 19 Lok Sabha members, the magic figure
for causing a split is seven as per the anti-defection law. At
present, the dissidents neither have the numbers not the courage
to take the final plunge, but they are hoping to strengthen their
ranks as the days go by and Mamata Banerjee continues to make
bloomers.
For instance, a Trinamool MP, also the union minister of state for
tourism - Sultan Ahmed - initially praised Trivedi's budget saying
the passenger fare increase was inevitable. But only hours later,
he did a u-turn after realising that matters were snowballing in
the party after the leadership (read Mamata Banerjee) took a
strong stand against the hike.
But the Dinesh saga apart also, things have not really been rosy
in the Trinamool of late, with reports of infighting, factional
politics and a scramble for the spoils of office hitting the
headlines in the media regularly.
Things have deteriorated to such an extent in Birbhum district,
that a Lok Sabha member had to publicly admonish workers.
"After Trinamool came to power, except Mamata Banerjee, everybody
has changed. And this includes not only those who are newcomers,
but also those of us who were in the party earlier. We are
damaging the party more than the damage that is being inflicted by
the CPI-M or some other party to Trinamool," said Shatabdi Roy,
the MP from Birbhum.
"Those encouraging factionalism are doing garbage politics. Their
approach is wrong," added the former starlet.
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