Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata
Kolkata, Jun 23: A fresh crisis has erupted within the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after a rebel faction of the party allegedly “replaced” founder Mamata Banerjee as chairperson and elected senior MLA Arup Roy to the post, deepening the internal turmoil following the party’s defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections.
Sources from the rebel camp claimed that around 60 of the TMC’s 80 MLAs attended or supported the meeting held on Monday, according to PTI. They also claimed that nearly 70 former councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and representatives from several districts participated in the session.
The development prompted action from the TMC disciplinary committee, which issued show-cause notices to several senior leaders, including Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Arup Roy, Javed Khan, Rathin Ghosh, Biplab Mitra, Snehasis Chakraborty and Sabina Yasmin.
The party accused the leaders of deliberately engaging in anti-party activities.
The latest rebellion comes amid a prolonged power struggle within the party that began after the TMC lost the West Bengal Assembly elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The crisis escalated earlier this month after Assembly Speaker Rathindra Nath Bose recognised 58 rebel TMC legislators as the principal Opposition party in the House on June 3.
Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, who were expelled by the Mamata-led TMC on June 1, were recognised as the leader and deputy leader of the Opposition respectively.
The move came 29 days after the BJP defeated the TMC, winning 207 seats compared to the TMC’s 80 seats in the Assembly.
Days later, another rebel group comprising around 20 TMC MPs reportedly emerged, adding further pressure on Mamata Banerjee’s leadership. Several senior leaders moved away, leaving only a few lawmakers, including Mahua Moitra, Kalyan Banerjee and Derek O’Brien, supporting her.
Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha were expelled shortly after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari claimed that a written complaint from them had led to a CID investigation into alleged forgery of signatures of TMC MLAs in a May 19 resolution naming Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition.
Meanwhile, a group of TMC MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh and including leaders such as Saayoni Ghosh, Yusuf Pathan and Rachna Banerjee, reportedly proposed a merger with a lesser-known Tripura-based party, NCPI, to extend support to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Parliament.
If approved by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the merger could increase the NDA’s strength in the Lok Sabha from 294 to 314 seats. However, the alliance would still remain 46 seats short of the two-thirds majority required.
In the Rajya Sabha, the ruling alliance could reach 155 seats, remaining eight seats short of the two-thirds threshold.