Kolkata: Singing a different tune from his party the Trinamool Congress, West Bengal Consumer Affairs Minister Sadhan Pandey Saturday, without naming, hinted that Jadavpur University vice-chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti ought to have resigned.

“Everybody should be aware about his self-esteem. If I realise I am unwanted, I will go out. Why would I continue to stick to the chair,” said Pandey on media posers about Chakrabarti’s resignation for which a large section of students and teachers have been demonstrating.

Pandey’s comments came a day after his party peer and Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee appreciated Geetoshree Sarkar, who during the university’s 59th annual convocation refused to accept her degree and the award for the best graduate student.

“What Sarkar did was a non-violent way of protesting. As long as protests are non-violent, we stand by it,” Mukherjee said Friday even as he refused to judge if the student’s gesture was a correct thing to do.

The Dec 24 convocation was marred with slogan-shouting and black flag demonstrations as a large number of students boycotted the event or refused to accept their degrees.

The students have been clamouring for the removal of Chakrabarti – who enjoys the confidence of the ruling Trinamool – since Sep 17 when the university authorities ordered a police crackdown on a sit-in by students who were demanding an independent investigation into the purported molestation of a female student inside a hostel.

Commenting on the issue, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said there was growing dissent within the Trinamool.

“Yesterday (Friday) Mukherjee extended support to the student and now what Pandey has asserted, certainly needs to be supported. The ministers’ views are an indication of the growing dissent within the Trinamool and the days are not far when this dissent will acquire larger proportions,” said Chowdhury.