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Tag: Satabdi Roy

  • Miffed Trinamool Congress MP Satabdi Roy named state unit vice-president

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Three time Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Satabdi Roy, who has called a truce with the party after a brief rebellion that triggered speculations of her crossing over to the BJP, was on Sunday appointed vice-president of the West Bengal unit of the ruling Trinamool Congress.

    Expressing happiness over the news, Roy told reporters, she will work as a dedicated worker of the party and ensure defeat of the BJP in the coming assembly polls.

    “If you take up the matter concerning the party with the top leadership, it is addressed. This development proves that. I welcome the decision,” Roy said on her appointment as the state unit vice-president in the reshuffle.

    Roy, an actor-turned-politician and a leading face in the Mamata Banerjee’s cultural brigade, is the third consecutive term Lok Sabha member from Birbhum.

    She had snatched the Birbhum seat from CPM heavyweight Ram Chandra Dome in 2009 on debut and managed to win it by an overwhelming margin in 2019, even as the BJP had routed the Trinamool Congress in the nearby constituencies.

    Roy was among the prominent leaders who had joined Banerjee’s Singur and Nandigram movement in 2009 that ended the Left Front rule and catapulted the feisty Bengal leader to power in the state. The Birbhum MP had voiced dissent Friday over not being informed about the party events in her constituency which she said caused “mental pain”.

    In a Facebook post she had said that she will inform the public Saturday if she takes any “decision”, following which the jittered Trinamool Congress leaders had started reaching out to her. She changed her stance and expressed full confidence in the leadership of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee after meeting the Diamond Harbour MP Friday evening.

    TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh had also met Roy to dissuade her from leaving the party.

    After hammering a solution to her grievances, Roy had Saturday praised Abhishek Banerjee, who is nephew of the chief minister, for giving her a patient hearing and said she “is pleased with the way the young leader assured” her of resolving all the issues.

    Returning satisfied after a two-hour long meeting with Abhishek Banerjee she had made it clear that she will remain with the Trinamool Congress. She also admonished party colleagues having problems like her to discuss the issues with the party instead of looking for other options.

    The actor-politician had said it would be “unethical to look for other options” when the party is facing a tough fight. Polls to 294-member Bengal assembly are due in April-May.

    Banerjee’s party is witnessing exodus of its disgruntled leaders to a resurgent saffron party which is making all efforts to win the state after an impressive performance in the 2019 Parliamentary election winning 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, only four less than the TMC tally of 22.

    Last month, Suvendu Adhikari, along with 35 party leaders including five MLAs and an MP, joined the BJP, setting off a churning as several disgruntled leaders rallied behind him. In the rejig in the TMC, the party announced new names for the state committee which included Moazzem Hossain and Shankar Chakraborty in addition to Satabdi Roy.

    In another significant development, former administrator of Asansol Municipal Corporation and Trinamool leader Jitendra Tiwari, who had voiced discontent over running of the civic board and had even met Suvendu Adhikari and Sunil Mondal on the eve of their joining BJP on December 17, has been removed from the post of district president of Paschim Bardhaman.

    Tiwari, who had iterated to work for TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee after a meeting with the party leadership in the last week of December, has been replaced by Apurba Mukhopadhyay as the TMC district president. “This decision has been taken as I did not take back my resignation letter as the administrator. As an MLA and an ordinary worker, I will continue to serve my organization,” Tiwari said.

    Asked about the appointment of Roy and other leaders in the state committee and new faces in the district committees, Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said, “It is an organisational matter. Why should we discuss this with the media?”

  • Parleys yield fruit, Satabdi Roy stays with TMC

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: TMC MP Satabdi Roy sought to dismiss specualtion surrounding her imminent exit from Mamata Banerjee’s team by issuing a statement on Friday evening that she was very much with the ruling party. The statement came after she held a meeting with chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

    “I expressed my grievances and I was assured that the issues would be sorted out. I am not going to Delhi tomorrow,” she said. Earlier, the two-time MP from Birbhum had posted a cryptic message on social media, highlighting how she has been kept out of loop about party affairs, before declaring she would visit Delhi, where “she might or might not meet” Union Home Minister Amit Shah. 

    ALSO READ | TMC MP Satabdi Roy hints at problems with party, may take ‘decision’ on Saturday

    As per party sources, Roy is having differences with Birbhum district TMC chief Anubrata Mondal. “Of late, many people have been asking me why I am not seen in party events. I tell them I want to go everywhere. But I guess some people don’t want me to go. I don’t get details of the party’s regular events,” she had posted.

    Cryptic message The two-time MP from Birbhum had posted a cryptic message, highlighting how she has been kept out of loop about party affairs, before declaring she would visit Delhi, where “she might or might not meet” Amit Shah

  • TMC MP Satabdi Roy hints at problems with party, may take ‘decision’ on Saturday

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Actor-turned-Trinamool Congress MP Shatabdi Roy’s cryptic message on social media on Thursday night triggered strong speculations about her next political move amid a series of defection from the TMC to the BJP ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.

    The two-time MP from Birbhum, who was interrogated by the ED in connection with a chit fund scam, expressed her dissent for not being kept in the loop about party affairs.

    Roy said she would fly to Delhi on Saturday morning and she “might or might not” meet Union Home minister Amit Shah.

    Shatabdi’s dissent resulted another course of embarrassment in the ruling party’s camp within a month after another sitting MP from East Burdwan constituency defected to the BJP.

    The MP said she would inform on Saturday if she takes any decision related to her next political move.

    Bengal BJP functionaries, however, said they would welcome if she decides to join the BJP.

    “She (Shatabdi) joined the profession to serve the people, not for the sake of her own interest. We will welcome her if he decides to come under the fold of the BJP,” said BJP’s vice-president in Bengal.

    “I used to have regular intimate communication with the people of my constitution. But nowdays, many people have been asking me why I am not seen in the party events. I tell them I want to go everywhere. I love to be with you but I guess, some people don’t want me to go to you. I don’t get details of party’s regular events in the area. How can I go if I don’t know? It hurts me mentally,” Shatabdi wrote on a social media post, adding, “If I take any decision, I will inform you on Saturday, January 16, at 8 pm.”

    Asked about the purpose about her Delhi visit at a time when BJP’s Bengal functionaries are in the national capital and whether she would meet Shah, Shatabdi said, “I am a two-time MP and I have a house in Delhi. I frequently to there to attend meetings and other purposes. Coming across someone is not an unusual event. Nothing is scheduled.”

    TMC MP and spokesperson Saugata Roy said, “I was trying to contact her over phone from last night but could not. Today, I talked to her and informed the party’s leadership about the content of our discussion.”

    Former TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh went to Shatabdi’s house and held a meeting with her. But Ghosh refused to disclose what were the issues he discussed with her saying, “Shatabdi is a good friend of mine. I just came to chitchat with her.’’