Speaking in Murshidabad, his home district, on Saturday after submitting his reply to the show cause notice issued by the party, Kabir said: “If I feel the need, then I will contest from both Beldanga and Reginagar Assembly seats. I will not quit politics.”
Kabir, who was elected from Rezinagar on a Congress ticket in 2011, joined TMC in 2013 after resigning as an MLA. He was defeated in the next by-election from that seat and later was expelled from the TMC in 2015. He returned to the TMC before the 2021 Assembly elections and got elected from Bharatpur.
Known for not toeing party line and making controversial remarks, Kabir recently demanded that TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee be made Deputy CM with the Home Department portfolio, currently held by the chief minister. He also alleged that “a coterie within the party” was trying to influence every decision taken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
For the last one month, Kabir has criticised his district Murshidabad leadership for poor development in the region. He also targeted two senior leaders of the party – Firhad Hakim, Kolkata Mayor and state Cabinet minister, and Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Banerjee.
With the TMC leadership setting up three disciplinary committees to curb dissension in the party, Kabir was sent a show cause notice. In his three-page reply to the notice submitted to the party on Friday, Kabir: “Our CM epitomises the spirit of ‘Maa-Mati-Manush’ and being a person of the grassroots level, I always stay rooted to the ground. Maybe I should have been more careful about my way of expressing.”
Meanwhile, TMC minister Shovandev Chattopadhyay asked what steps will be taken against Kabir. “Our party’s disciplinary committee will go through his show cause answer and after that, the party will take a decision,” Chattopadhyay said. A senior TMC leader said: “It is known to the party that what Humayun Kabir said many party leaders also share same opinions. Also, he is popular in his constituency and is from a minority community. So, it will not be so easy to take stern action against him.”