This Article is From Jun 15, 2015

Trinamool Congress Distances Itself from Lawmaker's Comment on Sushma Swaraj-Lalit Modi Controversy

Trinamool Congress Distances Itself from Lawmaker's Comment on Sushma Swaraj-Lalit Modi Controversy
Kolkata: A curious subplot is unfolding in the Sushma Swaraj-Lalit Modi controversy.

Till 6 pm today evening, the Trinamool Congress had kept conspicuously silent about it.

Then suddenly, party MP Derek O'Brien issued a statement saying, "My colleague Prof Saugata Roy has given a statement on the Sushma Swaraj Issue. This may be his personal view, not the view of the party. He is not a spokesman."  

Mr O'Brien is out of the country and, when contacted, refused to elaborate on the statement or why the party had distanced itself from what Prof Saugata Roy had said.

Saugata Roy, a senior Trinamool lawmaker, was quoted widely on Sunday saying, "Sushma Swaraj should not have intervened in the matter and now she must own up to having done something improper in her capacity as a minister."

When contacted in Delhi over phone, Mr Roy refused to repeat his comment on Sushma Swaraj but said that what he had said was out in print and he was not withdrawing it. Asked why his party was distancing itself from his comment, Mr Roy said, "Ask the official spokesperson" which is Derek O'Brien.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Mohammed Salim said, "I am sorry for Prof Saugata Roy and regret the end of freedom of speech in the Trinamool Congress.

"Basic fact is, the party of Saugata Roy is not going to endorse a single word against the Modi government and its leaders. The Trinamool supremo will not tolerate any thing that will damage her new found relationship with the BJP.

"Such is the condition of the Trinamool. Even Arun Jaitley has not defended Swaraj's action. This simply reinforces the fact that after the Narendra Modi-Mamata Banerjee meeting in March in Delhi, there is an unspoken bond that the Trinamool will not say anything against the BJP," Mr Salim said.

Before the 2014 elections, Mamata Banrjee and Narendra Modi had engaged in a ferocious war of words. After he became the Prime Minister, Ms Banerjee did not send him even the usual greetings. She met him briefly at Rashtrapati Bhavan in December.

But on 9 March, Ms Banerjee met Mr Modi by appointment about West Bengal's financial difficulties.

In May, Mr Modi visited Kolkata and Asansol and at both places Ms Banerjee played host and their positive chemistry was the subject of much analysis by the Opposition parties.

On June 6, Ms Banerjee met Mr Modi in Dhaka and reportedly even discussed the Teesta water sharing pact with him. The issue had so irked her in September 2011, she had refused to, at the last minute, join then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Dhaka because he had wanted to sign the pact during that visit.
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