TMC calls Trivedi ungrateful after he quits RS seat, BJP welcomes him

The TMC on Friday called partyleader Dinesh Trivedi ''ungrateful'' after he resigned from hisRajya Sabha seat, while the BJP, jubilant over his decision,invited him to join its camp.

Trivedi's resignation dealt yet another blow to theMamata Banerjee camp, which is grappling with exodus of partymembers ahead of the West Bengal assembly polls.

The former Union minister announced that he would beresigning from the Upper House, saying that he feelssuffocated for not being able to do anything amid the growingviolence and unrest in Bengal.

The two-time Lok Sabha MP was sent to Rajya Sabha lastyear by the TMC after he lost the parliamentary polls in 2019.

He is reported to have had some tiff with anothersenior Rajya Sabha member of the party.

Reacting to the development, TMC Rajya Sabha deputyleader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said Trivedi is ''ungrateful.'' ''For the last so many years he (Trivedi) did not sayanything. Now, all of a sudden, just months before theassembly polls, he has complaints. This shows his truecolours,'' Roy said.

''He is ungrateful and has betrayed the trust ofpeople,'' he added.

Echoing him, party colleague and Lok Sabha MP SougataRoy said, ''People like Trivedi enjoy power during their tenureand leave before elections. If he had grievances, he couldhave aired it within the party.'' Senior TMC leader and minister Tapas Ray said ifpeople like him leave the party, it is a blessing for theruling camp.

''It is good that he left us. He never enjoyed masssupport. He used to win elections because of Mamata Banerjee'simage. People like him are of no use to any political party,''he said.

Elated over the development, the BJP, however,iterated that ''the beginning of the end of the TMC has begun''.

Claiming that the party will disintegrate soon, stateBJP president Dilip Ghosh said, ''It is only a matter of timebefore the TMC disintegrates. If Dinesh Trivedi wants to joinus, we will welcome him.'' BJP national general secretary and the party's Bengalminder Kailash Vijayvargiya lauded Trivedi as a ''capableleader''.

''Those who want to work for the country or the statehas no place in a private limited company like the TMC. Lastyear, I had met him at the airport and he told me that he wasnot being allowed to work for the masses. He took one year totake this decision. We respect his decision and if he wants tojoin us, he is most welcome,'' Vijayvargiya said.

Trivedi is the fourth senior leader to quit the rulingparty in Bengal in the last two months after Suvendu Adhikariand Rajib Banerjee, who switched over to the BJP, and LaxmiRatan Shukla, who expressed his desire to quit politics.

This was not the first time Trivedi openly aired hisgrievances against the party.

Earlier, in March 2012, he had to step down as railwayminister after Mamata Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo,opposed the budget placed by him, proposing fare hike.

He was replaced with the then TMC general secretaryMukul Roy. Shortly after, Trivedi was also suspended from theparty but later reinstated.

The TMC was an important constituent of the-Congressled UPA government at the Centre.

Earlier in the day, Trivedi said, ''If you sit herequietly and cannot do anything, then it is better that youresign from here and go to the land of Bengal and be withpeople.'' ''What I mean to say is the way violence is takingplace in our state. Sitting here, I am feeling perplexed as towhat I should be doing,'' he added.

Later in the evening, while talking to a Bengali newschannel, Trivedi dropped hints that he might cross over to theBJP in the near future.

''I share cordial relations with the BJP top brass,including Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi... Icould have joined the BJP long ago. But I cant talk aboutfuture,'' Trivedi said.

The CPI(M) leadership mocked the TMC and the BJP, andsaid it was funny that people are jumping ship just ahead ofthe polls just ''because of the call of their inner voice''.

''After so many years, Trivedi listened to his innervoice. Was his inner voice sleeping all these years? Howeverfor a corrupt party like the TMC, this is what it deserves,''CPI(M) politburo member Mohammed Salim said.

Trivedi begun his political career in the Congress in1980s but later switched allegiance to the Janata Dal in 1990.

He joined the TMC in 1998.