As many as 59 legislators from the rebellious Trinamool Congress (TMC) reached the West Bengal Assembly in Kolkata on Wednesday to claim themselves as the main opposition party, leaving the other faction led by Mamata Banerjee in an unprecedented crisis.
The defectors include former ministers such as Javed Ahmed Khan, Arup Roy, Chandranath Sinha and Sabina Yasmin. Many of the 59 people are facing investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate.
“Let’s have our meeting. We have more than two-thirds of what we have.” [assembly] “The members are with us,” said Sandipan Saha, MP from Entali district in Kolkata, before entering the Assembly.
The TMC on Monday expelled Saha and Ritabrata Banerjee, who are leading the dissidents, for their anti-party activities. On Wednesday, Banerjee first arrived at the Assembly armed with a letter signed by the dissidents.
To escape action under the anti-defection law, 52 legislators were asked to sign a letter to Assembly Speaker Rathendra Bose. The number of representatives of the Transitional Military Council decreased to 78 after the two expulsions. At least 57 had agreed to split the party by Tuesday afternoon. The number rose to 59 on Wednesday morning.
Signs of division were evident when only 69 out of 80 TMC legislators attended the first legislative party meeting at Mamata Banerjee’s residence on May 6. The number dropped to 64 on May 19 and only 19 on May 31.
Yasmin, who was previously known to be close to Banerjee, said they would decide who would be the leader of the opposition when the rebels met in the assembly and said they would meet Bose.
On Tuesday, Banerjee, who formed the TMC in 1998 by separating from the Congress, held her first demonstration in the wake of the Assembly election debacle and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to divide her party by pressuring and cajoling its legislators. “You [the BJP] Ruling party split in Maharashtra. “You are doing the same thing here,” Banerjee said during a two-hour demonstration, without naming the Shiv Sena, which suffered a split in 2022.
Banerjee said the police are asking the TMC legislators to form a new party. “Police go to the homes of lawmakers facing corruption charges and threaten them with federal agency investigations. Is this democracy?”
The demonstration was attended by only nine members of the Transitional Military Council in Parliament and the Council.
