Dismissing rumours of his cosying up with the rival BJP, senior Trinamool Congress leader Sabyasachi Dutta on Sunday said he remained a “loyal soldier” of the party and accused the saffron brigade of trying to create confusion ahead of the general election.
Mr. Dutta, who is also the Mayor of Bidhannagar, had met BJP leader Mukul Roy at his residence in Salt Lake on Friday, which had led to the speculation.
The TMC leadership, however, said that Mr. Dutta has accepted his mistake of hosting a BJP leader at his residence at a time when the two parties are heading for a showdown in the polls in the State.
The speculation gained ground after Mr. Dutta on Saturday decided to skip the party’s North 24 Parganas district committee meeting.
Furious at the development, TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked senior party leaders Firhad Hakim and Jyotipriyo Mullick to convene a meeting of councillors of the Bidhanagar Municipal Corporation to discuss the matter.
“I am a loyal soldier of TMC and Mamata Banerjee. On Friday, (Mukul) Roy all of a sudden came to meet me, as I had known him since his days in the TMC I couldn’t say no to him. But I was not aware that he had also informed the media about his visit to my place and had placed camera persons outside my house. He deliberately wanted to create a confusion,” Mr. Dutta said after a meeting with the councillors.
Mr. Dutta claimed that the two did not discuss a single word about politics. “We spoke about cricket,” he said.
According to sources, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen on Sunday went to Mr. Dutta’s residence to discuss the matter and enquired about the entire sequence of events.