New Delhi: Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay’s sudden arrival in the national capital and his open rebellion against party leadership is making headlines since he has been known as a close confidante of party Chairperson Mamata Banerjee and a staunch supporter of his leader in Parliament for decades.
However, he is also known to have gone against his supremo on earlier occasions as and when he considered it appropriate for himself and his constituency. In September 2003, Mamata did not take kindly to Sudip meeting the then Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani and had him temporarily expelled from the party. It was then said that he had met the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader to formally thank him for the Union government allotting a significant fund for the restoration and upkeep of Swami Vivekananda’s birthplace.
However, it led to a political storm within the Trinamool Congress, where the party Chairperson assumed it was as an attempt at seeking a Cabinet berth.
Incidentally, as an MP, Bandyopadhyay was allotted accommodation in official quarters at Delhi’s Baba Khadak Singh Marg on the same floor as that of Mamata. In fact, with the doors open across the landing, one could see well inside the small corridor of the other apartment.
The friction, however, led to his shifting elsewhere. But not forever. Sudip always had his way around Mamata; the two later reconciled, and he returned to be made Minister of State in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. By that time, Mamata walked out of NDA – for the second time, after 2001 – and allied with the UPA. The bonhomie was back, and Sudip was again back in contention. (IANS)
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