Kolkata: Veteran leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who was allegedly heckled by a rival faction in the Calcutta University campus recently, on Thursday said he has nothing against Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee but wanted the party to act against the `insult`.
The aged leader, who is the chief whip in the State Assembly, was assaulted by the TMC-backed employees of the University last Tuesday when he went there to expedite a meeting with the University`s vice-chancellor.
"I have nothing personal against Mamata Banerjee or the party, but the way I was treated that day, I wanted the party to act," he told a news agency.
Chattopadhyay said, "I am not leaving the party immediately but If I cannot remain in the party with respect and protection then I have to think about my future course of action".
Denying report that Banerjee has asked him to meet her, he said, "She rang me up saying she will look into the matter. Now it is upto the Chief Minister what step she will take".
An upset Chattopadhyay said that he was with Mamata Banerjee for the last 25 years and was with the party since its inception.
"I can expect certain respect and protection from the party. I work with integrity and I am not the one who take `cut money`. I have not said anything against the leadership of Mamata Banerjee. I am fully sure that there is no alternative in West Bengal as yet to Mamata Banerjee".
The outburst by Chattopadhyay embarrassed the party after another leader, also a minister, Rabindranath Chattopadhyay refused to take over a new portfolio he was assigned in a recent ministerial reshuffle.
PTI
