As Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee left Kolkata on Sunday to attend Monday’s meeting of the All India Caucus in Delhi, some of her loyalists said a section of the party’s Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members might secede after a coup by 58 out of 80 legislators.
Veteran TMC Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy made an important comment while heading to Delhi.
“When dams collapse or fires break out, everything is destroyed. Nothing is saved. In order to survive, one has to take precautions,” Roy, who was the first MP to protest on the streets of Kolkata after the rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, told reporters at Kolkata airport.
TMC Lok Sabha MP from Bardhaman-Durgapur seat Kirti Azad said: “Those who want to leave, can leave. I have always been with Didi. My position will not change.”
“The BJP is running Operation Lotus to break the TMC parliamentary party. I saw Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and (Lok Sabha member) Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar at Delhi airport,” said Saujata Roy, another Lok Sabha MP.
The TMC has 29 members in the Lok Sabha and 13 members in the Rajya Sabha. Among the 13 senators, former West Bengal Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar, Supreme Court lawyer Menaka Guruswamy, former minister Babul Supriyo and popular actor Koel Mallick were elected on March 16 this year.
“We have received information that some MPs may meet the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Speaker of the Rajya Sabha on Monday and Tuesday. We are monitoring the situation,” a senior TMC leader told HT in Kolkata.
“Mamata Banerjee hopes to see India bloc leaders stand by her in this hour of crisis, but some… [alliance] He added that the partners may not attend Monday’s meeting.
Although the BJP needs the support of more MPs in both houses to pass the crucial bills, Rajya Sabha member and BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya on Saturday made it clear that his party will not go back on its decision not to recruit anyone for now.
“The Trinamool Party is splitting into pieces and the BJP is not associated with this in any way. It is normal for a party without morals and principles to collapse. If some of these people contact any of our leaders or want to meet him…there is no reason to believe that people will be recruited. Our doors are closed,” Bhattacharya said.
On Wednesday, West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathendra Nath Bose recognized 58 rebel legislators (TMC) as the main opposition party in the 294-member House. The TMC immediately expelled Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandiban Saha, the MLAs who led the coup.
“More MLAs have contacted us. We cannot share more details,” Saha said on Sunday.
Mamata Banerjee reconstituted the TMC National Working Committee at a party meeting at her residence on June 5 and appointed Rajya Sabha members Dula Sen and Derek O’Brien as joint national secretaries.
“This appears to have been done in view of the growing discontent against national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The president also reshuffled the state committee in the meeting. Her close aide Chandrima Bhattacharya has been appointed as state president, a post which was earlier held by veteran Subrata Bakshi,” a TMC leader said.
