Didi snaps ties with brother after outburst over LS ticket

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday abandoned her brother Babun Banerjee hours after his outburst for not getting a ticket from the Trinamul Congress in the Lok Sabha Election and a threat to fight the polls from Howrah as an independent against three-time party MP and candidate Prasun Banerjee.

Shaken by Ms Banerjee's announcement, Babun, who is the fourth among the six brothers of the TMC supremo, later changed his mind. In the morning Babun, who is a TMC leader and wanted to contest from Howrah, alleged, “Prasun misbehaved with me during the AGM of Mohun Bagan Club. He can't fully spend the funds under his MPLAD also.”

He also claimed, “One can't do politics sitting at home. That's why I have decided to contest at Howrah as an independent since I'm also a voter there. I will have a word with Didi over my plan since she ties Rakhi on my hand. It's a brother-sister relation. I consider her my god. She might ask me not to contest there but I will try to convince her about my plan.”

Hitting back at him in the afternoon, Ms Banerjee, who was in Jalpaiguri of North Bengal, said, “I have repeatedly made it clear that there is nothing called ‘my family.’ My family is the people. If you try to find blood connection in my family then there will be 32 members in the chain. But none of them is like him. He creates problems in every election. Everyone is aggrieved by him.”

She elaborated, “When someone grows, his greed also increases. Anyone can do anything without involving the family. But from today I don't see him as my family member. All ties have been severed by not only me but also those in our blood connection and Maa, Mati, Manush. Don't introduce him as my brother further. Don't take my name also because I disassociated him from my family bonding.”

The CM added, “There are no relations between us anymore. Prasun will remain our candidate at Howrah. If everyone in my family asks for tickets in polls, it will amount to dynasticism which I don't follow.” Babun immediately said, “What Didi said as a guardian is right and a blessing to me. Didi brought me up after our parents’ demise. She has the right to say this after my mistake. I will meet her and won't contest the polls.”

The TMC also faced another backlash when its former Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen revolted for not getting a ticket in the LS polls. He claimed, “I can show statistics that I worked tirelessly for my party in the RS against the BJP. I thought I would be renominated to RS which the party didn't do. It's not that I dreamt of getting a ticket for LS since I concentrated myself in parliamentary politics. That also didn't happen. I'm sad.”

Dr Sen however asserted that he would follow the orders of Ms Banerjee and her MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee to continue in the TMC. Meanwhile Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh, who was also denied a TMC ticket, sounded confident of his contest at his seat apparently for BJP after Ms Banerjee asserted that he won from BJP before defection.