Family feud: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s brother softens stance

New Delhi, March 13

Within hours of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee threatening to sever all ties with her younger brother for planning to fight the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls as an independent candidate, Swapan Banerjee, aka Babun, softened his stand dramatically.

After claiming in the morning that he might contest as an independent candidate from the Howrah Lok Sabha constituency, where the Trinamool Congress has fielded former Indian football player Prasun Banerjee, the CM’s younger brother withdrew his threat in the afternoon.

“I am in New Delhi now. I will be returning to Kolkata soon and after that I will speak to the Chief Minister. She is my elder sister and also my guardian. She has said what she felt. I will talk to her and sort out things,” Swapan Banerjee said.

Meanwhile, opposition parties have ridiculed the family drama. BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said feud between siblings is inevitable in a party that follows no basic political ideology or philosophy. “Trinamool Congress members are there just to make money through unfair means. So, infighting over the share of loot and positions of power is natural,” Ghosh said.

West Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the infighting in Trinamool Congress was now seeping into the family of the Chief Minister. “Such fights are inevitable when greed becomes the driving force of a political party,” he said.