Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress party seem to be facing one of the biggest crises in recent years as the party may be heading towards a split over differences over who will become the leader of the opposition in the state assembly.
Ritabrata Banerjee, the TMC MLA who was expelled by the party on Monday for “anti-party activities” along with Sandeepan Saha, has emerged as a central figure in the ongoing Trinamool infighting that could lead to a Shiv Sena-style split.
Ritabrata currently enjoys the support of majority of TMC MLAs to become LoP of the state assembly. As many as 59 dissident Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators, led by Ritabrata, reached the state assembly in Kolkata on Wednesday to claim themselves as the main opposition party. It is worth noting that many of these 59 rebels are facing investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
Also read: Mamata’s TMC stares at split as most MLAs rally behind the opposition leader’s expelled legislator
Who is Ritabrata Banerjee?
Ritabrata Banerjee is a member of the Legislative Assembly in West Bengal. He won from Uluberia Purba constituency on a Trinamool Congress ticket defeating BJP’s Rudra Prosad Banerjee by 11,838 votes in the state assembly polls held earlier this year in which the TMC faced a crushing defeat as the BJP won with a thumping majority.
Ritabrata was a CPI(M) MP in the Rajya Sabha until 2017. The expulsion from the TMC was not the first time he had faced such action. In 2017 also, Ritabrata was expelled from the CPI(M) for his anti-party activities. He then joined TMC and the party sent him to Rajya Sabha in 2024 for 15 months.
Also Read: West Bengal: 59 rebel TMC legislators claim to be main opposition party
His social media reads: “A proud Bengali and Indian. Incidentally MLA from Uluberia Purba, West Bengal and former Member of Indian Parliament twice.”
How forged signature claims led to infighting
The infighting began over a forged signature scandal in the party nicknamed “The Signature.” The TMC has recommended veteran Subhandeep Chattopadhyay for the post of Leader of Opposition and Party President in the West Bengal Assembly on May 6. Soon after, allegations began to emerge that on the documents submitted, several signatures of TMC legislators had been forged or affixed without their proper consent, following which, Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathendra Bose refused to accept the recommendation.
Then came a clarification from West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who refuted allegations that the BJP had a role to play in the matter and said that two MLAs of the party had submitted a written complaint to the Speaker regarding the matter.
“Two TMC members, Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandiban Saha, submitted a written complaint to the Speaker. The BJP has no role in this,” he said, after which they were expelled over allegations of “anti-party activities” by the TMC, reducing the party’s number of seats to 78 in the state assembly from 80.
The entire incident is now being investigated by the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
It appears that Mamata, who lost to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in the state Assembly polls, may be losing her grip on her party’s MLAs after only 20 TMC MLAs turned up at a meeting she called on May 31.
“I still belong to Trinamool.”
Before going to Western Assembly Speaker Rathendra Bose to claim that he is the official main opposition party in the state assembly with 58 MLAs, Ritabrata Banerjee told Hindustan Times that he feels he still belongs to the Trinamool Congress but criticized how the party leadership has “lost touch” at the grassroots level.
“I think I still belong to Trinamool. Those who claim to be running Trinamool, which means grassroots, have actually lost touch with the grassroots level. Someone tried to institutionalize the party. People did not accept it. People want a better version of TMC,” he said.
It may also be noted that in the documents submitted by the rebel MLAs, they described Mamata Banerjee as their “boss”, indicating that perhaps it is not Mamata who is the target of the dissenters but the leadership structure of the legislative party, news agency PTI reported.
It also quoted sources as saying that the rebel camp has also proposed a new leadership structure for the legislative party, with Ritabrata Banerjee as leader and Akhiruzzaman as chief whip.
(With inputs from Subhadra Chatterjee)
