Trinamul mum on Binny

TT, Sept. 28: The Trinamul Congress today stayed mum on its hill leader Binny Sharma as rival Gorkha Janmukti Morcha demanded exemplary punishment for him after he was accused of rape by a minor tribal girl.

Binny, the hill Trinamul general secretary credited with increasing the party’s support base in Darjeeling, has said “some Trinamul leaders have connived against me”.

North Bengal’s seniormost Trinamul leader Gautam Deb only said: “I will inquire into the matter and would then comment on it.”

Trinamul sources in Calcutta said Sharma and Darjeeling hill Trinamul president Rajen Mukhia have been at loggerheads with Deb and his associate Soumitra Kundu, one of the party general secretaries, over organisational activities in the hills.

“Gautamda and his associates do not like Binny’s organisational clout in the hills, particularly because he managed to bring in some Morcha activists into the party,” said a member of the party’s Darjeeling Trinamul core committee.

A Trinamul leader close to Deb in Calcutta, however, said: “Some party leaders might be jealous of Binny but to involve the minister in such dirty politics is in bad taste.”