Rebel TMC MP Kabir Suman may fight LS poll as independent

Rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kabir Suman, who was denied ticket for the Lok Sabha poll by the party, today said he was open to contest election from his Jadavpur seat as an independent.
"I am not ruling out the possibility of fighting the Lok Sabha election. I may, but not as any party's candidate," Suman told a vernacular news channel here.
A former journalist-turned musician and writer, Suman said, "I am not a politician by profession. I spend time with my guitar and my music. They (TMC leadership) should have kept that in mind before giving me the ticket last time."

Asked if he was willing to fight the election this time, Suman said, "If I fight, I will do that from Jadavpur only, as this is the place where I live."
Jadavpur constituency is in the southern outskirts of the metropolis which Suman won on a TMC ticket defeating sitting CPI(M) MP Sujan Chakraborty by over 56,000 votes in the 2009 general elections.
"I am not well, I don't have money or a party behind me," he said reiterating "but sometimes I am feeling that I will fight the election."

Suman had been chosen by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee after he participated in the Nandigram and Singur agitations of the party to fight the Lok Sabha election as a party candidate.

He fell out with the TMC leadership within a few months of winning the election in 2009 over alleged interference from local party leaders.
However, he neither resigned from his Lok Sabha membership, nor did the party take any action against him despite his acerbic public statements against the party leadership on several issues over the years.