Calcutta, Jan. 11: The sushil song has become too shrill for Mamata Banerjee’s ears.

Kabir Suman today declared on live television that had he been present at a media conference with Mamata, he would have had no option but to “stand up and oppose her view”.

The Jadavpur MP’s outburst, the third act of defiance since the general election, has stunned Trinamul as it is a strict no-no in the party to share in public differences with Mamata.

However, sitting in the STAR Ananda studio and sharing screen space with a hapless and squirming Trinamul leader Partha Chatterjee, Suman explained his decision to stay away from Mamata’s media conference last Saturday and fired salvo after salvo at the party. (See chart)

Minutes after Suman’s opinions were aired, several Trinamul Congress workers and leaders from the districts called up party state president Subrata Bakshi demanding action against him.

“The party ranks and leaders were very agitated after having heard Suman’s opinions on television. They called me to say such a person should be driven out of the organisation,” Bakshi said.

A Trinamul junior minister said from Delhi tonight that Mamata, who attended the banquet for Sheikh Hasina tonight, was “very upset” with “Suman’s defiant attitude”. “She might take a decision about Suman on her return to Calcutta,” the minister said.

If the party summons the courage to take the unpalatable decision of expelling Suman, he could be an “unattached MP”.

Again making evident the perils Mamata courted by indiscriminately welcoming “intellectuals” into her fold, Suman said he would not compromise his freedom of expression and would continue singing for Chhatradhar Mahato, one of the leaders of the Lalgarh movement.

At a time Mamata is trying to distance herself from Maoists and their sympathisers, Suman said: “I won’t seek the party’s opinion, nor would I approach its core committee for singing songs of my choice, come what may.”