Mukul Roy loyalist backs TMC leadership

A Trinamool Congress MLA, close to out-of-favour senior party leader Mukul Roy, today backed the party leadership amid a deepening divide between Roy and party supremo Mamata Banerje, saying "if there are small stones in rice, they should be separated". "There can be two or four small stones in rice. Remove them (stones), but don't throw away the rice," was what TMC MLA Sabyasachi Dutta said apparently referring to dissidents.

Dutta was seen taking part in a Holi celebration with state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, a Mamata Banerjee loyalist. Dutta had recently ruffled party feathers by saying in Bengali ''jekhaney dhonwa othey, kothao ektu aagun toh thakbeyi'' (there can't be smoke without fire), insinuating at the involvement of those summoned or arrested by the CBI in the Saradha scam.

Hakim's celebrating Holi with Dutta at a programme is seen as an attempt to woo back the Roy aide who had been shorn of certain responsibilities. While former minister Humayun Kabir was shown the door a day after he slammed Mamata Banerjee, Dutta, who recently put the party in a spot by welcoming the CBI's Saradha probe, was given pride of place in the room where the Chief Minister was present. Dutta, the Rajarhat-New Town MLA, spent close to 30 minutes with Banerjee in her Assembly chamber along with other Trinamool leaders, journalists and given a place close to her during a photo-op on February 26. However, Mamata had recently removed Dutta as the party observer for Tripura last month.