The Trinamool Congress, founded by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, appears to be omnipresent as MPs and MLAs form rebel camps, mayors step down and now appear to have their positions divided over speculation of a merger with the Congress.
In addition to the successive setbacks, Mamata Banerjee lost another Rajya Sabha MP – Sushmita Dev – on Wednesday after she announced her resignation from the Senate and TMC membership. Dev’s exit came two days after another TMC leader – Sukhendu Sekhar Rai – resigned from the Rajya Sabha, citing “unbridled corruption” and “chaotic governance” of the party.
Dev Wrai’s resignation comes as the latest blow after an unsettled week for Mamata Banerjee, with the TMC suffering a split in the Bengal Assembly – with 58 lawmakers backing rebel leader Ritabrata Banerjee, who has staked her claim to the position of Leader of the Opposition – and also showing signs of cracks in Parliament with MP Kakoli Ghosh on Monday offering support to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), claiming she has the backing of 19 other MPs – the number required to evade the anti-defection law.
Amid the turmoil, Mamata Banerjee met Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Monday, a meeting after which speculation emerged about the TMC’s “merger” with the grand old party.
What’s happening at TMC | The most important points
–MLAs rebel: Parliament Speaker Rathendra Nath Bose last week recognized 58 rebel TMC MLAs, led by MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, as the main opposition bloc. The rebels accused the party leadership of acting in an authoritarian manner and openly challenged the role of TMC National Secretary General Abhishek Banerjee. The 58 lawmakers supported Ritabrata Banerjee, who staked her claim for the position of opposition leader.
– Representatives’ rebellion: On Monday, another divided faction of sorts of the TMC emerged, with MP Kakoli Ghosh saying she has the support of 19 MPs and would like to extend support to the BJP-led NDA with them. “Nearly 20 TMC MPs, including myself, have decided to support the NDA for Bengal’s development. We have decided to write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and formally support the NDA,” an earlier HT report quoted the four-term MP who resigned from all party posts last week as saying. “The message has already reached the Speaker of Parliament. We have sought separate seating arrangements as a separate bloc,” she added later in the evening. The rebels need at least 19 of the TMC’s 28 members to escape anti-defection measures.
–Heavyweights joining the camp: The list of MPs in the rebel camp includes some heavyweights in the TMC, including controversial leader and Jadavpur MP Sayoni Ghosh. While Sayoni Ghosh and Kolkata MP Dakshin Malla Roy joined the dissident lawmakers on Wednesday, those said to be in the rebel camp also include: MPs Abu Tahir, Asit Mal, Arup Chakraborty, Kalipada Soren, Jagadish Basonia, Prasun Banerjee, Sharmila Sarkar, Satabdi Roy, Yusuf Pathan, Jun Mallya, Khalilur Rehman, Bappi Halder, Rachana. Banerjee, Mitali Bag, Dev Adhikari and Partha Bhowmik. While Shatrughan Sinha’s name was also reported to be among the rebels, TMC sources claimed that the actor-turned-politician is siding with Mamata Banerjee, according to news agency PTI.
– Merger hype between Congress and TMC: The growing internal discord within the TMC has fueled speculation about a possible merger of the party with the Congress, a buzz that gained momentum after Mamata Banerjee’s meeting with Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Monday. However, the response to the merger buzz remained divided with TMC Secretary General Abhishek Banerjee meeting Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday to “explore possibilities of deepening ties” and the Congress terming the speculation as inaccurate.
– Merger speculation “unfounded”: Talks about a merger between the Congress and the TMC are baseless, people familiar with the matter told HT on Wednesday, stressing that there is no proposal under consideration to merge the two parties. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also said in a post on
– Mayor’s exit and TMC arrests: Against this backdrop, a fresh blow came for Mamata Banerjee when the party’s Firhad Hakim and Krishna Chakraborty resigned from the Kolkata and Bidhannagar municipal posts last week. On Monday, Al-Hakim, a prominent minority figure, appeared to have joined the rebel group. Meanwhile, TMC leader Jehangir Khan was arrested on Monday near the Indo-Nepal border in connection with an extortion case, police said. The arrest comes after Khan was allegedly evading law enforcement agencies for several days amid multiple criminal investigations.
