Not leaving Trinamool, it is nobody's property: Sovan

Sovan Chatterjee, once a loyalist of Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said he was not campaigning for any party now.

Kolkata: Ruling out quitting the Trinamool Congress, estranged party leader and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee on Wednesday said he had no plans to join the BJP or any other party despite being the victim of a mob attack.

Chatterjee, once a loyalist of Trinamool supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said he was not campaigning for any party now.

Chatterjee, who fell out with the party chief over his friendship with college professor Baisakhi Banerjee, went ballistic when asked whether he felt ashamed of being associated with a party whose workers allegedly abused and laid seize on a bungalow in South 24 Parganas district's Raichak where he had last weekend gone on a vacation. Banerjee and her family were with him at the bungalow.

"Trinamool is nobody's paternal property. Trinamool is not owned by a single person. It has been built on the blood and sweat of a large number of people," he said.

"I also have some responsibility towards the party. Lots of people are saying I will quit the party. But that is not the case. At this point of time I am not campaigning for any party."

Chatterjee said he was shocked at the ordeal he had to go through for two days. "I never imagined that I would have to witness all these. Whatever happened is undesirable."

Baisakhi Banerjee told the media that he got a telephone call from a BJP leader. "For the time being, I am not going to the BJP. I am not associated with any party now. Previously, I was with Trinamool."

Banerjee alleged that the mob gathered outside the bungalow on Monday night threatened to rape her and kill Chatterjee.

She alleged that the attack was carried out following rumours that she could contest from the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat.

With inputs from IANS