Kabir Suman

Calcutta, March 21: Kabir Suman today accused his Trinamul Congress colleagues of “indulging in corruption at the local level and unleashing violence”, the fifth time the Jadavpur MP has defied the leadership and spoken out against his party.

“It pains me to hear complaints that some Trinamul persons at the lower level are involved in corruption. They are accepting bribes. It’s shocking that one has to pay to Trinamul-led panchayats and municipalities to get building plans sanctioned. Such an attitude of party people is worrying biddyajan (referring to Mamata Banerjee’s culture clan of artistes and writers),” Suman said in an interview to STAR Ananda.

Mamata Banerjee was not available for comment but Subrata Bakshi, the president of the party in Bengal, said tonight that the leadership wanted to “ignore the MP”. “We shall not attach any importance to what Kabir Suman is saying. If we stick to our stand, the MP will himself realise that he has no takers,” Bakshi added.

Trinamul sources said Suman has gone unpunished since the party’s four-member disciplinary committee existed only on paper — it rarely holds meetings. Partha Chatterjee, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and a key member of the panel, admitted “we have so far not discussed any disciplinary measure against Suman”. Biman Banerjee, junior Union minister Mukul Roy and Bakshi are the others on the panel.

But many party supporters from the districts appeared to be demanding Suman’s expulsion. “If Suman goes unpunished, every Tom, Dick and Harry will start speaking against Didi (Mamata) and other senior leaders, daring them to take action,” said a party worker from Diamond Harbour in South 24-Parganas.

Last year, Suman accused Sovan Chatterjee, the chief of the party in South 24- Parganas — Jadavpur is in the district — of trying to influence and dictate terms in the way the MP development fund was to be used.