'I feel suffocated...' Trinamool's Dinesh Trivedi announces resignation from Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, Feb 12: In a major setback to the Trinamool Congress ahead of the assembly elections in 2021, party MP Dinesh Trivedi on Friday announced his resignation from the Rajya Sabha. He cited the reason that he was unable to do anything over the violence in West Bengal.

 

He also mentioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in his statement where he said he wants to work for West Bengal, against the violence the state is presently witnessing. Several prominent Trinamool leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, have recently resigned from the party and moved to the BJP.

 

His statement came in the middle of the proceeding as he urged Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh to allow him only five minutes as he was going to talk about a serious issue.

 

 

Quoting Swami Vivekananda's 'Arise, awake', the MP said, "My inner voice is telling me that if I can't do anything for my state sitting here, it's better I leave this chair. I am resigning from Rajya Sabha today. There is violence happening in my state. We cannot speak anything here," Trivedi said.

 

"There are limitations here. My party has sent me here so I am grateful. But now I can't take any more what is happening. I am feeling suffocated and that's why I want to resign from here and want to work for my Bengal," the MP said.

 

 

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the former railway minister said, "The world was looking at India during the Covid-19 pandemic. India's fight against Covid-19 has been successful. PM Modi said the credit goes to 130 crore Indians, but the fight was helmed by him."

 

Reacting to the resignation of Trivedi, TMC MP Sukhendu S Roy said the party will be sending another 'grassroot' worker to the Upper House. The West Bengal Assembly Elections for 294 seats are scheduled to take place this year. However, the dates of the polls have not yet been announced by the Election Commission.