Trinamool rebel to play host to Mahajan again

In a move that may further widen the rift between Trinamool rebel and MP Sudip Bandopadhyay and party chief Mamata Banerjee, the former has ...

In a move that may further widen the rift between Trinamool rebel and MP Sudip Bandopadhyay and party chief Mamata Banerjee, the former has decided to play host to Union Minister Pramod Mahajan again when he comes visiting Kolkata tomorrow.

The Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology will be in Kolkata to release a stamp on eminent Rabindra sangeet exponent Kanika Bandopadhyay who died last year.

When Bandopadhyay learnt that Mahajan wanted to see the puja pandals in the city, he decided to invite him to his constituency. ‘‘When I heard of his plans I requested him to visit a few pandals in my constituency,’’ he said.

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He invited the party chief’s wrath last month when he hosted tea parties attended by Mahajan and BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley. Defending his action, the Trinamool MP said: ‘‘In my opinion, if a Union minister comes visiting, the local MP should welcome him at least for courtesy’s sake.’’

He said he was not bothered about what Mamata thought about it. ‘‘It’s not a political programme. Here we are only talking about decency.’’

Kolkata Mayor and senior Trinamool leader Subrata Mukherjee chose to play it safe. ‘‘If an MP accompanies a minister somewhere I think nobody should attempt to see politics there. Sudip may be doing it because of his friendship with the Minister.’’

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