Bhuiyan to reply to show-cause, knock on Sonia doors

Kolkata: West Bengal Pradesh Congress has given a week's time to senior Congress MLA Manas Bhuiyan to explain himself. Party state president Adhir Chowdhury in his show-cause letter to Bhuiyan has held that the senior MLA flouted the PCC decision on July 4 to leave the Public Accounts Committee chairman's post to the Left. Chowdhury wants Bhuiyan to respond, failing which the party will crack the whip on him for breach of discipline.
Bhuiyan isn't giving up. The Congress MLA will respond to the PCC show-cause though he feels that the Pradesh Congress president doesn't have the authority to take him to task. "I am an AICC member. Any disciplinary action against me has to come from the AICC. The Pradesh Congress president doesn't have the authority to take disciplinary steps against me. Yet, I will respond to the PCC president's letter as a disciplined Congressman. I have got the letter via e-mail and preparing a reply, though I am not aware of any such PCC decision," the Congress MLA said.
In addition, Bhuiyan will seek an appointment of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi to explain his case. "Sonia Gandhi is my supreme leader. I have been working under her able leadership for all these years and have never quit Congress. I am a disciplined Congress soldier. Rahul Gandhi is my beloved leader. I fear that my case has been misrepresented to the party high command by those who seldom practised discipline in the party. I put it on record that even if I resign from PAC chairman's post after one year, the post will go to the principal Opposition - Congress, according to West Bengal assembly rules. In that case, four-time Congress MLA Asit Mitra is the best choice and not CPM's new MLA Sujan Chakrabarty," the Congress MLA said.
Bhuiyan is upset that people who broke party discipline are now trying to teach him a lesson on discipline. "I honour the Pradesh president's post which is why I will reply to Adhir Chowdhury's show-cause letter. But I can't but mention the fact that this person joined Congress dumping a Left party (RSP) in 1991 to save himself. Chowdhury has the rare credit of insulting and humiliating Congress leader Atish Sinha and made him step down from the Murshidabad Congress president's post," he said.
"Dissidence is part of Chowdhury's politics. In 2006, he fielded Manoj Chakrbarty against Congress candidate Mayarani Pal. Opposition leader Abdul Mannan is also a product of dissidence politics. Mannan made an entry to Bengal Assembly in 1982, by forcibly taking away the party ticket allotted to a senior Congress leader. In order to achieve this, Mannan didn't even hesitate to insult veteran Congressman Gopal Das Nag," he added.
The Congress MLA fails to understand why the Pradesh Congress president and the Opposition are hell-bent upon to gift the PAC chairman's post to CPM when CPM leaders have gone on record saying that they didn't ask for the post. "I came to know from media reports that CPM state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra didn't ask for the post. Neither did Sujan Chakrabarty plead with Congress to make him the PAC chairman. I fear that this was a joint initiative by Adhir Chowdhury and Abdul Mannan to block Manas Bhuiyan," the PAC chairman said.