Rebel Trinamool MP Kabir Suman quits party

New Delhi/Kolkata: Rebel Trinamool Congress MP Kabir Suman, whose sympathetic stand towards Maoists and outbursts against alleged in-house corruption embarrassed the party, quit the organization and from the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Suman, the singer-turned-politician, sent an SMS to Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee annoucing his resignation from the party as well as the decision to quit from the Lok Sabha, party chief whip in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhayay told PTI.

"I am resigning from All India Trinamool Congress and Lok Sabha. Wish you all success and good health," the MP from Jadavpore constitutency said in the SMS sent also to Bandopadhayay and another TC leader Mukul Roy.

Suman's resignation capped months of uneasy ties between him and the party, especially Mamata who was understood to be unhappy over the manner in which CPI(M), arch political rival of Trinamool Congress, was drawing mileage from the singer's remarks against his own party.

The action by Suman came a week after Mamata Banerjee had asked the disciplinary committee to prepare a report on his public outbursts against alleged corruption in the party and sympathy towards Maoists, in contravention of the party's stand.

Suman's latest music album on Maoist-backed People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA) convener Chhatradhar Mahato and Lagarh movement by Naxals had come as a major embarrassment for TC as it runs counter to Banerjee's stand that the party does not subscribe to Maoists politics of liquidating people and wanted Maoists to abjure violence.

"It pains me to hear complaints that some Trinamool persons at the lower level are involved in corruption. They are accepting bribes. It's shocking that one has to pay Trinamool-led panchayats and municipalities to get building plans sanctioned", Suman had said in an interview to a TV channel.

Sudip Bandopadhaya conceded tonight that Suman's utterances had often put Trinamool Congress "in a difficult position".

TC leader and Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee had cautioned Suman that as an MP he should abide by parliamentary rules and party discipline.