KOLKATA/BOLPUR: Actor and TMC MP Satabdi Roy, whose Facebook post about feeling let down by some colleagues is the latest in a long chain of dissent to hit Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s party, on Friday did a U-turn on visiting Delhi for her much-speculated meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah. The decision came following a meeting with fellow MP Abhishek Banerjee.
“I told Abhishek about my grievances. I am not going to Delhi tomorrow. I joined TMC because Mamata Banerjee wanted me in the party. This is the time to stay together and put up a fight,” Satabdi said, setting at rest speculation about her joining BJP. The Bengal BJP brass, however, believes the last hasn’t been heard of Satabdi’s dissent. “What we saw today may not be the final settlement. BJP is not enthused or disappointed with such a development. I can only say that there are more things in the waiting,” said BJP state general secretary Sayatan Basu.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Satabdi had said she was “unable to reach out to her voters” despite her efforts to connect with them. She claimed some people in TMC didn’t inform her about party programmes in Birbhum. She gave a date and time — January 16, 2pm — to make up her mind about her future in Trinamool. On Friday, TMC veteran and MP Saugata Roy and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien called Satabdi while party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh visited her residence. Satabdi had sounded adamant about visiting Delhi before the party intervened.