Kolkata: Stating that every party member is bound to follow discipline, Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi on Tuesday said rebels like party MPs Kunal Ghosh, Satabdi Ray and Tapas Pal are free to quit if they are unhappy.
"There is a lakshman rekha which no one should cross. If you don`t like what is going on, you are free to quit. Nobody has forced you to stay," Trivedi told reporters here when asked about the showcause notices being issued to the three party MPs for anti-party activities.
As a party member, he said, everyone has the responsibility to maintain discipline and if they have any issues it can be sorted out within the party.
"In Trinamool there is a party forum where everyone can talk whatever they want to. That freedom is there to complain," said Trivedi, who during his short tenure as the Railway Minister last year had fallen out with party chief Mamata Banerjee over rise in railway fares.
Trivedi stressed that since the MPs have been elected by the people they have an obligation to the party.
Asked whether rebels are jointly organising a forum, he denied it saying there is no division in the party.
"There is no division in the party. We have been elected democratically and we cannot misuse this freedom," he said.
Praising Mamata Banerjee for ousting the Left Front government, he said, "The credit goes to her for her hard work."
"The truth is that we both like each. Me and Mamata Banerjee," he said.
Three party MPs Kunal Ghosh, Satabdi Roy and Tapas Pal had shared the dais with rebel party MLA Sikha Mitra last week and made anti-party comments irking the leadership.
Yesterday, Ghosh had alleged that a TMC leader had once demanded Rs four crore from Saradha Group chairman Sudipta Sen, who was arrested in the chit-fund scam.
He threatened to reveal the name of a TMC leader if his "unnecessary harassment" did not stop.
PTI
