Kolkata (West Bengal): After Rajeeb Banerjee and Probir Ghosal, now the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal has suffered yet another set-back with the resignation of its Rajya Sabha MP Dinesh Trivedi.
Trivedi said that he was feeling claustrophobic as he had to silently watch the reign of terror in West Bengal. "I was feeling claustrophobic. So I listened to the call of the heart and resigned. I now want to work for the people of my state which has so many legendary icons like Netaji, Rabindranath Tagore and Vivekananda," he said.
The question doing the rounds in West Bengal's political circles is whether the development will really be a long-term catastrophe for the Trinamool Congress. Although some Trinamool leaders have already started criticising Trivedi following the development, political analysts feel that attacking Trivedi beyond the line of political courtesy will ultimately invite more trouble for the party.
After Mukul Roy and Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP, the contention of the Trinamool Congress was that leaders like Roy and Adhikari had joined the saffron camp to save their skins from CBI or ED because of their involvement with previous financial scams. However, when Rajeeb Banerjee and Probir Ghosal joined the BJP, the above logic of the TMC did not work, owing to the clean images and overall acceptability of both Banerjee and Ghosal.
Subsequently, the logic of TMC against Banerjee was that quitting the ministerial berth just four months before the state assembly polls does not really speak of any high moral position. By naming Banerjee or Ghosal, some Trinamool leaders also said some leaders were quitting the party realising that they will not be offered candidature this time.
Read: TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi resigns from Rajya Sabha
But any of the two logics of the TMC falls flat in the case of Trivedi, a man of polished and clean identity and one of the very few polished and suave speakers in the party. He had been adjudged as the best Parliamentarian. His current term in Rajya Sabha had not even completed a year. Hence, the TMC leaders cannot attack him saying he resigned only at the end of his term. So, the initial reactions of Trinamool leaders on Trivedi's resignation on Friday were quite strange.
"Trivedi, a traitor, has backstabbed Trinamool before the elections," said Trinamool's Lok Sabha member Kalyan Bandopadhyay.
"Dinesh should have discussed about his grievances within the party. His resignation before the elections is unfortunate," said another Trinamool Lok Sabha member, Sougata Roy.
However, no exasperating counter-attack has come from Trivedi as yet.
A senior Trinamool leader, on strict condition of anonymity, said that Trivedi had never shown any kind of rebellion within the party. "But he was quite unhappy with the decision to rope in Prashant Kishore or PK as the party's vote strategist. Even he told some of his confidantes that Trinamool Congress became acceptable to the mass only because of years of struggle. So he was not at all happy with PK's absolute supremacy before the elections," the party leader said.
Trivedi had been with Trinamool since its inception. Before taking charge as the chief minister of West Bengal in 2011, Mamata Banerjee assigned Trivedi for the chair of Union Railways Minister that was vacated by her. However, because of increased passenger freight, Trivedia had differences with the party and he was virtually forced to resign. Trivedi then was succeeded by Mukul Roy.
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"That same Mukul Roy is one of the principal leadership faces of BJP in poll-bound West Bengal and mainly because of his initiatives and strategy, Trinamool leaders and ministers are joining the saffron camp one after another. Today Trivedi too has disassociated himself from Trinamool and it is almost a foregone conclusion that he too is joining the BJP. It seems a political circle is getting completed now," said a city-based political analyst.
Trivedi's academic and pre-politics professional career was also quite impressive. He graduated in commerce from the reputed St. Xavier's College of Kolkata and acquired an MBS from University of Texas in Austin. He started his professional life with Detex in Chicago.
He later returned to India and joined Lee and Muirhead. From 1984, he started his own air freight business. At the same time he is also a qualified pilot. He has an avid interest in fine arts and music and is also a trained Sitar player.
