Three familiar names from Indian cricket are caught up in it, and each is standing in a different corner.
Yusuf Pathan is reportedly among the rebels against Team Mamata; Kirit Azad remains firmly with her; and Sourav Ganguly, and alleged emissary, has denied any role whatsoever.
Kirti Azad slams rebels Azad has dismissed the rebels' claim of having 20 MPs with them.
Son of former Bihar CM Bhagwat Jha Azad, who was a Congress stalwart and freedom fighter, Kirti Azad has had a political path that runs through three parties, the BJP and the Congress, besides the TMC at present.
He was MLA in Delhi, then a multi-term MP from Darbhanga in Bihar, before winning his current Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal for the TMC.
The Trinamool Congress's crisis has an unlikely sub-plot. Three familiar names from Indian cricket are caught up in it, and each is standing in a different corner. Yusuf Pathan is reportedly among the rebels against Team Mamata; Kirit Azad remains firmly with her; and Sourav Ganguly, and alleged emissary, has denied any role whatsoever. (AP, PTI File Photos)
The most vocal is Kirti Azad, a member of India's 1983 World Cup-winning side and now the TMC's Bardhaman-Durgapur MP, who has emerged as one of Mamata Banerjee's fiercest defenders against the rebels. Originally from Bihar but a longtime leader with political roots in many places, Azad used to be an all-rounder — a right-hand batter and an aggressive right-arm off-break bowler.
Kirti Azad slams rebels Azad has dismissed the rebels' claim of having 20 MPs with them. He called it "the fake and fabricated narrative of the dirty tricks department of BJP," insisting only 13 had attended the rebel meeting and “no one else has signed on the dotted line”.
He was blunt about their motives at a press meet in New Delhi on Tuesday: "If you want to go to the BJP, say that openly"; and about Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who leads the revolt: "Kakoli lost five elections, yet Mamata Banerjee made her an MP."
Azad said he and the other loyalists were “born out of struggle”. Son of former Bihar CM Bhagwat Jha Azad, who was a Congress stalwart and freedom fighter, Kirti Azad has had a political path that runs through three parties, the BJP and the Congress, besides the TMC at present. He was MLA in Delhi, then a multi-term MP from Darbhanga in Bihar, before winning his current Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal for the TMC.
