New Delhi:
Slamming party rebels as “traitors”, Trinamool Congress MP Kirti Azad said those who are part of the revolt are hungry for power and termed their possible departure “good riddance to bad rubbish”.
In a no-holds-barred interview with NDTV’s Shiv Aroor on Tuesday, Azad said the “true character” of the rebels had been revealed and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had told him she would rebuild the party and fight again on the streets.
To a question on the rebels saying they have the support of 20 of 28 Lok Sabha MPs from the party, the former cricketer alleged several people were being blackmailed.
“Now, these people have gone and said that they are a separate entity. Let them prove it. And even if they are, they will have to anyway go and merge (with the BJP). That’s the law. You can’t be a separate entity because the NDA is an alliance. It’s not a political party. So you’ll have to go and merge. So accept that Narendra Modi is your leader,” he sneered.
“They will get it because they are trying to get people. I mean, even (former cricketer and Trinamool MP) Yusuf Pathan is being blackmailed at the moment. We know it very well. The others are being blackmailed who have not signed, those who don’t want to. So they are going to coerce them and get them there because this is the dirty tricks department… the deceit, the fake and fabricated narrative that is used by the BJP all the time. If they have it, all the best to them. Let the traitors go. Good riddance to bad rubbish,” he said.
Pointing out that Mamata Banerjee had founded the Trinamool and not inherited it, Azad said she fought and struggled to make it successful, and people like him would stand by her.
“And when the going gets tough, the tough get going. I am not a traitor. My father was a freedom fighter. And I believe in being honest and being loyal to somebody who has done something for you,” the MP asserted.
Bribe Accusation
Taking aim at Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, one of the faces of the revolt by Trinamool MPs, Azad alleged she had been caught taking a Rs 5-lakh bribe.
“These are the ‘honest’ people that the BJP is going to take?” he asked.
“She lost five elections before she won her first election. She was appointed the chief whip and then Mamata Banerjee said we need a strong person who can fight and we will have Kalyan Banerjee again as the chief whip. And this is what she (Dastidar) didn’t like. She never came to Parliament when she was the chief whip. She used to give instructions on the phone. At times we didn’t know who was going to speak. And she just got angry and left. So it’s only power that they want,” Azad claimed.
Claiming that the MPs would not be able to win again in the 2029 general elections, Azad said six of them had spoken to the party and said they owed everything to Mamata Banerjee and would stand by her. Soon after, they made it clear that they were part of the revolt.
Azad asked why the rebel MPs and MLAs had not spoken about their alleged problems with the working style of Trinamool National General Secretary and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee in the past, and had waited till the party lost.
‘Begged For Ticket’
The MP pulled no punches when speaking about Ritabrata Banerjee, who rebelled and claimed the post of leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.
“This Ritabrata used to be sitting outside his house begging for a ticket. He was given a Rajya Sabha seat by ‘didi’ (Mamata Banerjee) and then he was made an MLA and he was going to become a labour minister. So, you can understand what these people are basically,” he alleged.
Merger?
Asked about speculation surrounding a possible merger of the Trinamool with the Congress, especially after images of Sonia Gandhi hugging Banerjee were widely shared, Azad said he did not know.
“I have no idea at all about that. The leadership really will decide and Banerjee will speak to us and let us know,” he said.
Next Steps
On whether he had spoken to Banerjee and knew what she was planning next, Azad said he had a 90-minute conversation with the former chief minister.
“She’s a very confident lady. Absolutely confident. And she said, ‘I will rebuild’. She said, ‘I have come out of struggle. I came into power after going through a lot of struggle. And I shall fight again on the streets’,” he revealed.
