After suffering successive internal tremors, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is struggling to keep the Trinamool Congress (TMC) intact after the party’s MPs broke ranks – first with Ritabrata Banerjee taking the title of Leader of the Opposition with the support of 58 legislators and now another Member of Parliament, Kakoli Ghosh, who has shown signs of breaking away from many supporters.
The TMC’s Lok Sabha unit is on the brink of a major turning point after at least 14 lawmakers met in Delhi and discussed secession in the presence of Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, the latest setback for the regional party after its crushing defeat in the recently concluded Assembly elections last month.
About three kilometers from where party chief Mamata Banerjee was attending a meeting of the Indian National Development Alliance (India) on Monday, rebel TMC parliamentarians, led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, met at the residence of Union Minister and BJP observer for Bengal elections Bhupinder Yadav for two hours. In the evening, the group met again at the residence of Birbhum MP Shatabdi Roy, who has served as MP four times, HT reported earlier.
The Hizb ut-Tahrir report quoted officials familiar with the developments as saying that Adhikari was present at both meetings of the rebel TMC MPs. “In the first meeting, the Prime Minister sarcastically said that you are all senior MPs but you were treated badly by the TMC officers,” said an MP.
These developments came hours after veteran TMC leader Sukhendu Sekhar Rai resigned from the Rajya Sabha, citing “unbridled corruption” and “chaotic governance” of the party.
Kakoli Ghosh says “sar katija, jokija nai”
Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar – who resigned from all TMC posts late last month – said the rebel group had decided to support the National Democratic Alliance, adding that it had the support of nearly 19 MPs.
The rebels need at least 19 of the 28 Lok Sabha members – two-thirds of the party’s total MPs – from the TMC to escape anti-defection measures.
“Nearly 20 TMC members, 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,” the earlier HT report quoted the four-term MP 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.
Giving details of the events that led to the rebellion, Kakoli Ghosh said things are going “from bad to worse” in the TMC and also dismissed questions about her loyalty to Mamata Banerjee.
“I have been with Mamata Banerjee for 40 years. She has been my guide, my guide and my leader, and I was with her even in the days when she was not in power. She contested five elections and lost before 2009. So it is useless to say that just because she is not in power in West Bengal, she has left. It is not so. I was with her when she was not in power. But at that time, there was a policy that was a pro-people agenda,” Kakoli Ghosh told news agency ANI. For the poor in West Bengal…but in the last three-four years, the work has been sub-optimal.”
Ghosh said in a message of resilience that she will not bow down no matter what happens. “Mera sar katega lekin jhukega nahi… Maine bohot seh liya [My head may be severed, but it will not bow]…I did not come here after Mamata Banerjee became Prime Minister in 2011; I’ve been fighting here for 40 years. As I said, these people’s words have no effect on me at all…” Ghosh said.
Ghosh described the work done over the past three or four years as sub-optimal. “Different sectors like education, health and film industry have completely collapsed. The law and order was not perfect and the pressure was on government officials to act according to the whims and fancies of a particular leadership. This is not a suitable working climate for the development of the country. Now the rule of the people has proven what I am trying to tell you. So we want to work for the development of the country and for the national interest and the safety and security of the nation. That is why we want to work separately.” Ghosh said.
She confirmed that her party includes 20 deputies, including those who asked the Speaker of the House of Representatives to sit in separate seats. “We will work hand in hand with the central and state government for the development of West Bengal. We are against the chaos, mismanagement and unemployment in West Bengal over the past few years,” she said.
The TMC delegation in the Bengal Parliament has already suffered a split after 58 MPs last week supported rebel leader Ritabrata Banerjee, who bet on the position of opposition leader.
On top of all this, Mamata Banerjee is also facing a new challenge in her urban political structure as uncertainty surrounds the future of senior leaders holding key mayoral posts. Last week, Farihad Hakim and Krishna Chakraborty resigned from the party from the posts of mayor of Kolkata and Bidhannagar respectively.
The 58 TMC legislators defied the party line in the Bengal Assembly on June 3 and supported expelled MP Ritabrata Banerjee as MLA. On Monday, former Kolkata mayor and prominent minority figure Firhad Hakim appeared to have joined the rebel group.
