Rebel Trinamool lawmaker attacks party, Mamata

Rebel Trinamool Congress legislator Sikha Mitra Monday attacked the West Bengal government saying the state needed a regime which "talked less and worked more".

Speaking at the birth anniversary celebration of the state's second chief minister Bidhan Chandra Roy at the Congress party headquarters "Bidhan Bhavan", Mitra apparently trained her guns on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

"I only see dirt all around... There is a need to stop the garrulousness. Bengal needs a regime which talks less, works more."

Virtually throwing a challenge to the Trinamool leadership, she said: "I have not come here (the state Congress headquarters) at anybody's mercy. The constitution has given the right to speak".

Refering to Congress chief ministers of the past like Sanjeeva Reddy of Andhra Pradesh and Govind Ballabh Pant of Uttar Pradesh, Mitra said: "They did not become great only by speaking on microphones."

Ridiculing Banerjee's slogan of Ma, Mati, Manush (where the country was compared to soil), she said: "For me, the country is not only soil. It has consciousness. My locality, my country is bigger then me, not my party."

"My party can never be bigger than my country. First you should love your country, then your party."

She also reiterated her support for the anti-gangrape protests by the women of Kamduni village in Banerjee's presence.

"Hats off to the women protestors of Kamduni," said Mitra, who represents Chowringhee constituency in the state assembly.

A second year college student, a resident of Kamduni in North 24 Parganas district, was raped and killed by a group of youths June 7 while on her way home after her examination.

On a visit to the village last month, Banerjee shouted at the women protesting against the incident and seeking to talk to her. An enraged Banerjee screamed "shut up" at the women and called them Maoists and CPI-M activists, drawing flak from the civil society, media and the opposition.

Sharing the dais with his wife at B C Roy's birth anniversary celebration, Trinamool MP Somen Mitra denied reports that he was planning to leave the party, but said: "If at all I take the decision, then I will inform Mamata first.

"I don't stab people in the back," he added.