Mamata faces singer MP's music, plays down issue

Embarrassed by a surprise attack from her party MP, Kabir Suman, on the work culture in the Trinamool Congress (TC), party chief Mamata Banerjee tried to diffuse the situation by giving him a “guest” status in the party.

On Sunday, on the sidelines of a book release programme, the popular singer-turned-politician Suman had launched a vitriolic attack on his party, saying that he felt "suffocated" in the organisation. Suman, the newly elected MP from Jadavpur constituency, said his main grievance was that "he had become a slave of the party."

"He is not a member of our party, he is a man from the cultural world. He is a honoured guest of our party," said Mamata, while responding to specific queries from the media today.

The more serious charge Suman had leveled against his party was about the way it was functioning in Panchayat administration. He said that the elected bodies in the South 24 Parganas district were not working for development under TC.

This is a charge commonly leveled against the CPI(M) for neglecting pro-poor programmes in the rural area, for which it had faced serious erosion of support among its rural voters. In the last Panchayat election, CPI(M) lost both East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas to the TC.

"The CPI(M) had control of the Panchayats for so long. They did not do anything for the people. What about those who are in power now?" Suman asked.

He also alleged there was too much interference from his party in the normal functioning of Panchayats. "Even I am not allowed to take decisions about how to allocate funds from my MPLAD account," he said, blaming one TC leader Sovran Chatterjee for this.

Disgusted with the functioning of the party, Suman is now ready to go alone. He had said that if he were not expelled from the TC for his utterances, then he would request the Lok Sabha speaker to allot him a separate seat in the house.

Today, the core committee of the TC, of which Suman is also a member, met in the evening under the chairmanship of Mamata. But he did not attend it. Later, Mamata tried to explain this by saying that "in a democracy, everybody is free to have his opinion."

Also, she hastened to add that there is always a scope for improvement in the working of the Panchayat. But Mamata was cautious and did not entertain any further questions on the issue, saying that she would not like to discuss internal party matters with the media.

Though Mamata has awarded Suman a "guest" status in the party, the MP had to put on record in the Lok Sabha that he belonged to the TC.

CPI(M) leaders are jubilant with the latest development in the TC. The communist party's Shyamal Chakraborty and some other leaders have praised Suman for his "brave act and honesty".