TMC MP Kirti Azad on Thursday came in big support of Mamata Banerjee and said he is not like rats who flee during hard times. Saying that many people are pressuring him, Kirti Azad said he is a kind of person who stands with one another in adversity and added that Mamata didi has done so much for him and he cannot betray her at this critical time.
TMC MP Kirti Azad said, "... Now they are pressuring me; they’ve even removed my security. Well, if they’ve removed it, so be it; we’ll fight. We stand together; we aren't rats who flee during hard times. We are the kind who stand by each other in adversity. Didi has done so much for us; we cannot betray her. These people stayed for 30 or 40 years, became MPs 30 or 40 times, it’s their flawed mindset; I just don't understand it..."
Kirti Azad says there will be no merger with Congress
On reports of Congress-TMC merger, Kirti Azad said there will be no merger; that is all incorrect news. The election will be contested as an alliance, and the alliance will remain intact, he added.
Kirti Azad further added, "... If they actually had the numbers, the 'Operation Lotus' initiated by Amit Shah ji, who is applying borrowed Sindoor to their foreheads, the list would have been out by now. We’ve been hearing since the 6th June thet they have 20 MLAs, and they're going to meet the Speaker to submit the list but where is that list? They are defecting under the pretext of corruption; Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar is the prime example, she was caught on camera accepting Rs 5 lakh..."
Earlier in the day, actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha asserted that he would not abandon TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in difficult times, saying she had stood by him when he was going through a challenging phase in his political career.
Shatrughan Sinha says some may have left Mamata Banerjee due to compulsions
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP from West Bengal's Asansol said some people may have left Mamata Banerjee due to compulsions, fears or allurements, but his principled stand is that he would neither desert the party nor its leader.
"I am issuing a three-line whip to myself -- I was with the TMC and Mamata ji, I am with the TMC and Mamata ji, and I will stay with the TMC and Mamata ji. I have no intention of going anywhere," he said.
A three-line whip is typically issued by political parties before voting on important issues in Parliament. Sinha's assertion came after his name featured in a purported list of rebel TMC MPs circulating online.
The former Union minister, who has been with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in past and was a cabinet minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, also posted on X on Thursday congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi on completing 12 years in office, further fuelling speculation.
I will not leave Mamata Banerjee in her difficult times: Shatrughan Sinha
Before joining the TMC, Sinha was also in the Congress. "I will not leave Mamata Banerjee in her difficult times....Very few people stood by me when I lost, or rather was made to lose the (Lok Sabha) polls (from Patna) in 2019, and Mamata Banerjee was one of them," Sinha said.
The actor-turned politician fought the 2019 polls on a Congress ticket from the Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar, while his wife, Poonam Sinha, contested as the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
The TMC is facing a crisis following its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls and a rebellion that has significantly weakened its organisational and legislative strength. Last week, more than two-thirds of the party's MLAs -- 58 out of 80 -- broke away from the official TMC legislature party and secured recognition as the principal opposition bloc in the West Bengal Assembly under expelled legislator Ritabrata Banerjee. The rebel camp has since claimed that its strength has risen further.
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