Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra rallied behind Mamata Banerjee on Sunday as rebellion deepened in the party’s parliamentary ranks. Moitra described the MPs who are turning towards the BJP-led NDA as “traitors wearing yellow stained trousers” and challenged them to resign and recontest on a BJP ticket.
“MPs won in 2024 on TMC ticket,” MP Krishnanagar wrote on
“All the greedy, self-serving traitors wearing yellow stained trousers can join BJP now – resign from your seats and contest on BJP ticket. Let’s see who the big heroes you are,” she wrote.
In another post, Moitra targeted TMC MP and former Team India cricketer Yusuf Pathan, asking him if he was “rushing to Delhi” on the invitation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. “Have some courage. You played for India. Our region voted for you by a large margin. Have some shame and some courage,” she said.
It was not clear whether Pathan was already with the rebel group. There were reports earlier that Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain, had interceded with Mamata to ask Pathan to resign so that the former Prime Minister could enter the Lok Sabha in a bypoll. Ganguly denied that he played this role.
Mahua Moitra’s intervention came as rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar announced that “nearly 20 TMC Lok Sabha members” of the TMC – a party founded by Mamata in 1998 – had written to Speaker Om Birla offering support to the NDA. She confirmed her move to news agency ANI with a “thumbs up” emoji.
Under the anti-defection law, the dissident faction needs to obtain two-thirds of the party’s parliamentary membership to avoid disqualification. With 28 TMC members in the Lok Sabha, the rebels will need 19. This is the second such front against Mamata Banerjee. In the Assembly, expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee formed a faction of at least 58 MLAs and became the leader of the opposition. The unrest comes in the wake of the TMC’s election defeat, which handed Bengal its first BJP government headed by Suvendu Adhikari, ending Mamata Banerjee’s rule since 2011.
The TMC leadership rejected Dastidar’s claim. She said Kalyan Banerjee had been appointed as TMC’s Lok Sabha chief whip on May 20 and Dastidar’s claim to the post was “worthless”, while questioning whether the “so-called rebel group” had submitted any signed letter to the Speaker. Dastidar had in late May accused Kalyan Banerjee of “verbal abuse” and misogyny in a letter to the Speaker.
Another Mamata supporter MP, former cricketer Kirti Azad, wrote on X: “The Hon’ble Speaker has been informed of the sacking of Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and the appointment of Kalyan Banerjee as Chief Whip last month. The question is how long BJP will continue to fool the people?”
The dissidents, including Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Rai, who resigned from the Upper House earlier on Monday, met at the residence of Union Minister and BJP’s elections in-charge in Bengal Bhupinder Yadav. Prime Minister Suvendu Adhikari was also present.
This meeting coincided with the India Bloc meeting at the Constitution Club in Delhi, which was attended by Banerjee and the party’s general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee.
