File photo of Kunal Ghosh.
It is now official. Three MPs have been served show cause notices by the Trinamool Congress for anti-party activities. In a first-ever revolt in the party, the MPs spewed venom at the
Trinamool and its leaders at a public event in Kolkata on Friday.
Mamata Banerjee's retribution was quick. One of the rebel MPs, Kunal Ghosh, was grilled by the police for almost four hours today for links with the Saradha chit fund scam. Ghosh has said he was afraid he may be killed by his party men.
The rebellion took place at a blood donation camp. The organizer: Shikha Mitra, a suspended Trinamool MLA. Shikha is also wife of Trinamool MP Somen Mitra who was present on the dais with the three who rebelled: Shatabdi Roy and Tapas Pal, both popular actors, and Kunal Ghosh, who hit the hardest.
"Because I know a lot of things about a lot of people, I could be murdered. Those who want to bury the Sharada scam are hiding their faces and making me a sacrificial lamb," said Kunal Ghosh.
Ghosh was group CEO of Saradha's media companies. As his grilling ended after four hours, Trinamool hit out.
"It has been decided in the disciplinary committee meeting that we are going to issue show cause notices to the MPs, those who have uttered anti party activities and anti-party speech," said party general secretary Mukul Roy.
Both the Congress and the CPM were cynical. "It is the beginning of the end for the Trinamool. Very shortly you will be seeing a large section of MPs and MLAs deciding to come out from their party," said Pradesh Congress chief Pradeep Bhattacharya.
The CPM's Surya Kanta Mishra said, "This is something that is routine in TMC and definitely we will see more of their people being attacked by them."
The big question is, will the rebellion stop with these three MPs? Opinion is divided but most agree the Trinamool is shaken. When its MP Kabir Suman rebelled months ago, Trinamool had ignored him. This time the three rebels have hit where it could cause serious damage.