New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) After Trinamool Congress rebel MLAs urged Mamata Banerjee to join them as advisor, senior Trinamool Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who recently extended his support to breakaway MPs, reiterated the same message for his leader on Sunday.

This is the first time that the septuagenarian Parliamentarian spoke to the media publicly after news broke on Saturday of his joining rebel ranks. However, he is yet to officially sign the draft prepared by the rebels, led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, for submission before Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

“Though there has been pressure on me to assume the role, Kakoli has always been the person behind the exercise,” he said. Kakoli, another long-time Mamata associate, signed the draft as Chief Whip of the group.

He did not intend to take a leadership position as yet, he asserted, though some other MPs are expected to urge him again. Kakoli has been the undivided Trinamool Congress Chief Whip in Lok Sabha, before being unceremoniously removed some time back with Mamata loyalist Kalyan Banerjee.

Sudip further shared that West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has been in touch with him on Sunday and is expecting him to come to Delhi and meet sometime later in the evening. “I’ve said that I’ll sign the letter (requesting the Speaker to grant them official recognition) in his presence. So, I’m expecting him to come here sometimes in the night,” added Sudip.

On reaching Delhi on Saturday, Sudip reportedly met BJP leader and Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, followed by a visit to Home Minister Amit Shah.

The senior Trinamool leader said that his meeting with the Home Minister on Saturday lasted about 70 minutes, though he refused to discuss details. He only shared that Amit Shah enquired about Mamata Banerjee’s health and well-being.

The 77-year-old Trinamool veteran has been known as a close confidante of party Chairperson Mamata Banerjee, being a staunch supporter of his leader in Parliament for decades. However, he was temporarily expelled from the party in 2023 for meeting the then Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani and allegedly seeking a ministerial berth in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Sudip, however, maintained that he had met Advani to formally thank him for the Union government allotting a significant amount for the restoration and upkeep of Swami Vivekananda’s birthplace in Kolkata. However, it had then led to a political storm within the Trinamool Congress, where Mamata was said to have assumed it was as an attempt at seeking a Cabinet berth.

–IANS

jb/uk