Saugata Roy, a four-term MP of the Trinamool Congress from Dum Dum, on Monday said the responsibility for the split in the party in both the Assembly and Parliament ultimately fell on Mamata Banerjee, as she failed to keep her flock of legislators together.
“Ultimately, it ( responsibility) falls on her as she is the leader of the party. Obviously, she has not been able to keep her flock together,” Roy said during an interview with journalist Karan Thapar for The Wire.
His comments came on a day when most of the 28 Trinamool members in the Lok Sabha purportedly wrote to Speaker Om Birla seeking recognition as a separate bloc and decided to become part of the NDA.
“But I don’t think the crisis is natural. The crisis happened because the people are weak. They can’t take defeat and are threatened by the use of the CBI and the ED, and lured by money power. Why should I hold Mamata responsible at all?” asked the 78-year-old politician.
The MP claimed that the split was the result of the BJP’s Operation Lotus model, but did not agree that his colleagues in Parliament had been “bought” by the BJP.
Though he admitted that Trinamool was facing a serious crisis, he was not ready to accept that the situation would lead to the end of Mamata’s political career.
“No, I am not ready to write the political obituary of politicians. I have known people who went through worse times and recovered. I saw Indira Gandhi’s defeat in 1977 from close quarters. I have seen Mamata herself go through difficult times when she formed the Trinamool Congress,” Roy said, adding Mamata would bounce back.
Roy refused to believe Trinamool was disintegrating and said he was not joining the dissident group at the moment. He also expressed disappointment over Firhad Hakim’s decision to join the rebel group.
The rebel MPs and MLAs had flagged their discontent over Abhishek Banerjee’s alleged high-handedness within the party.
Roy said: “I am not a defender of Abhishek Banerjee, officially or unofficially.”
However, he questioned why those who turned rebels today were singing praises in favour of Abhishek until the election results were announced on May 4.