Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, the Trinamool Congress MP from Barasat, and six Trinamool Congress MLAs from North 24-Parganas on Tuesday attended an administrative review meeting headed by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, a first by Opposition leaders in the last 15 years.
The Mamata Banerjee regime did not invite non-TMC MLAs and MPs to any government programme or administrative meeting.
On taking charge as the first BJP chief minister, Suvendu had said that he would invite all Opposition MLAs to government events, particularly administrative review meetings. He also said that the MPs of the area concerned, particularly “like-minded” ones, will also
be invited.
Though Opposition MLAs were invited to his earlier administrative meetings in Siliguri and Durgapur, none attended. Therefore, Tuesday’s administrative meeting in Kalyani, Nadia, broke a 15-year-old political tradition.
“We (the BJP) were not invited for five years. That is why, from the very first day, I had said that I would invite all Opposition MLAs. I had also said that I would invite some special MPs. Today, among those special MPs, we invited the MP from Barasat. She and a few Opposition MLAs came,” said Suvendu.
Ghosh Dastidar, a four-term TMC MP from Barasat, had expressed her discontent after the party’s drubbing in the recently concluded Assembly elections, followed by her removal from the post of chief whip of the TMC parliamentary party.
“Known since 1976, started walking together in 1984. I was rewarded for four decades of loyalty,” she wrote on her social media handle on May 15 after her removal from the parliamentary post.
She had already resigned as president of the Barasat organisational district. Following her decisions, speculation grew within both the BJP and the TMC that she was attempting to change her political allegiance. After being referred to as a “special” MP by the chief minister, the buzz of her switch became
stronger.
After attending the meeting as a “special” MP, she gave a brief statement: “Administration is for all. There is nothing political.”
Asked about the criteria for selecting “special” MPs, Suvendu interestingly clarified what he meant by the term. “Those who are finally speaking the truth after a long time are the special MPs. Those who are saying that you (Suvendu) have given us our freedom. Those who are saying that the party (TMC) which finished fourth in the Falta bypoll has no future. They (TMC) cannot even become No. 2 from where they are now,” he said.
“I saw on television what the MP from Barasat was saying. Then I told the government to invite her, because she wants to cooperate. Today she delivered a speech, cooperated in the discussion, and while leaving, she shook hands and said, ‘It was a very good meeting. I have attended many meetings before, but I was never even allowed to speak,’” he added.
Apart from the TMC MP from Barasat, the six TMC MLAs from North 24-Parganas who attended Tuesday’s administrative review meeting were Deganga MLA Anisur Rahaman, Baduria MLA Burhanul Mukaddim, Swarupnagar MLA Bina Mondal, Basirhat Dakshin MLA Surajit Mondal, Minakhan MLA Usharani Mondal, and Haroa MLA Abdul Matin. Most said they attended the meeting for the development of their respective areas.
Another instance of “political bonhomie” came to the fore when TMC MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee from Uluberia Dakshin and Sandipan Saha from Entally met Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose in his chamber in the presence of the chief minister and other BJP MLAs during a courtesy meeting.
These moves have sparked widespread speculation that several Trinamool leaders were desperate to defect. To this, BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said: “Currently, we have no plan to induct anyone into our party, at least for the next three months. The party will later decide who can be inducted and when.”
