Satabdi FB post sparks buzz in TMC circles

Birbhum: A post uploaded by Trinamool Congress’ Birbhum MP Satabdi Roy on the Satabdi Roy Fan Club Facebook account has raised brows in party circles.

In her post addressed to Birbhum voters on Thursday, Roy gave indications of feeling let-down by “some people” in Trinamool. The actor-turned-politician also gave a date and time — January 16, 2pm — to announce her decision, if she takes any.

“Many have been asking me why I am not being seen in party programmes in Birbhum. How do I attend programmes when I don’t get to know about the schedule? I feel some people do not want me to be there,” the Birbhum MP said.

Her post further said: “I got elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 because you supported me. I used to give more time to my constituency over the last 10 years than I gave to my family. I hope to get your support in future.”

Rising above her MP post, like BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari did during his last days in Trinamool, Satabdi wrote: “I became an MP much later. People have been loving Satabdi Roy much before that.”

But why is Roy feeling jittery when she is an MP and has no fear of being denied a party ticket? According to TMC insiders, the Birbhum MP was seldom seen at party programmes in the district after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. People here saw her last during chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Birbhum visit on December 28. The CM gave Roy due importance in the rally, naming her quite a few times.

But the fact remains that Roy was not on good terms with the ruling party coterie in Birbhum for long. Local leaders didn’t like Roy disbursing her MPLAD funds on her own without authorising the party to select projects. Her detractors in the district, however, pointed to her alleged Ponzi links and said she might have come under pressure from BJP.