Kolkata, Jun 8 (PTI) The TMC imploded on Monday as a rebellion that had ruptured its West Bengal Assembly ranks reached Parliament, where 20 Lok Sabha MPs led by senior leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar claimed to have written to Speaker Om Birla backing the BJP-led NDA as a “separate bloc”, triggering a split in the party’s parliamentary ranks.
The twin revolts in the assembly and Parliament have plunged Mamata Banerjee’s outfit into its gravest crisis since its inception in 1998, with 58 of the TMC’s 80 MLAs having only days ago defied the party high command and backed expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition instead of its nominee, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay.
The political turbulence spilled into Parliament even as Banerjee was in Delhi attending an INDIA bloc conclave to forge opposition unity against the BJP, underscoring the scale of the challenge confronting the TMC leadership.
The dramatic development marks the first major split in the party’s parliamentary wing since the TMC was founded and raises the prospect of a broader realignment within one of the country’s largest opposition parties.
Speaking to PTI over phone, Ghosh Dastidar said 20 MPs had decided to support the NDA.
“Nearly 20 TMC MPs, including me, 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,” said the four-term MP, who resigned from all party posts last week.
Later, speaking to a news channel, she claimed that a letter bearing the signatures of 20 MPs had already been sent to the Speaker.
“The letter has already reached the Speaker. We have sought separate seating arrangements as a separate bloc,” she said.
Sources said the dissident MPs intend to argue before the Speaker that Ghosh Dastidar continues to be the valid chief whip of the party in the Lok Sabha and that subsequent changes announced by the party leadership were not completed through the required parliamentary procedure.
The TMC, however, released a May 20 letter from Mamata Banerjee to Speaker Om Birla informing him of Kalyan Banerjee’s appointment as chief whip. It also shared a letter in which Ghosh Dastidar had resigned from all party posts last week.
According to sources in the dissident camp, the MPs have chosen not to immediately resign from the TMC or join the BJP. Instead, they intend to function as a separate parliamentary bloc while supporting the NDA, a strategy aimed at securing protection under the anti-defection law.
Sharmila Sarkar, another rebel TMC MP, claimed that 20 MPs had formed a separate bloc under the leadership of Ghosh Dastidar and decided to back the NDA after a meeting at Union minister Bhupender Yadav’s residence.
The TMC currently has 28 Lok Sabha MPs, with one vacancy following the death of Basirhat MP Haji Nurul Islam. The support of 20 MPs would comfortably cross the two-thirds threshold required for protection under the anti-defection law, making it difficult for the party leadership to seek disqualification of the dissidents.
The development came a day after dissident MPs held a closed-door meeting in New Delhi, a gathering that, according to sources, was attended by senior Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy.
Roy resigned from both the Rajya Sabha and the TMC earlier in the day.
In a strongly worded resignation statement, he said the people of West Bengal had delivered a historic verdict in favour of the BJP to end what he described as the TMC’s “anarchical rule” marked by corruption, atrocities against women and failures in governance.
“In respectful acceptance of this historic verdict of the people, I have resigned today from the Rajya Sabha as a member and also from the primary membership of the All India Trinamool Congress,” he said.
Roy’s resignation is likely to fuel concerns within the party that the unrest may not remain confined to the Lok Sabha unit. After his exit, the TMC has 12 members in the Upper House of Parliament.
Party MP Mahua Moitra launched a blistering attack on the rebels, accusing them of betraying the mandate on which they were elected.
“MPs won in 2024 on TMC ticket. Mandate was NOT for NDA. All the greedy self-serving traitors with yellow-stained pants can please join BJP now- resign your seats & contest on BJP ticket. Let’s see what big heroes you are,” she posted on X.
Responding to the development in Lok Sabha, Ritabrata Banerjee said the parliamentary revolt was a natural extension of the rebellion that had begun in the assembly.
“This was bound to happen. We are happy that the MPs have decided to speak out. What started in the Bengal Assembly has reached the Lok Sabha today. This is spreading in a contagious manner,” he said.
The latest development, however, also underscored the differing political trajectories of the two rebellions.
While the assembly rebels have positioned themselves as a constructive opposition to the BJP government in West Bengal, their counterparts in Parliament have chosen to back the BJP-led NDA, both claiming to be TMC.
Some observers compared this situation to the Congress’s dual-track approach during the UPA-I years (2004-2008) when it fought the Left Front in Bengal while depending on the Left’s outside support to run the government at the Centre.
The developments evoked memories of the Shiv Sena and NCP splits in Maharashtra, with the rebellion being driven by strength within the legislature party rather than control of the organisation.
The difference, however, is that unlike during the Shiv Sena split, as TMC founder Mamata Banerjee remains firmly at the centre of the political battlefield.
What began as a revolt in the Assembly has now spilled into Parliament, leaving Mamata Banerjee battling the gravest internal crisis of her political career even as she seeks to rally the opposition against the BJP at the national level.
Whether the split remains confined to a bloc of Lok Sabha MPs or expands into the Rajya Sabha may determine the next phase of the crisis, opening a new and uncertain chapter in Bengal politics and testing the resilience of a party that has dominated the state’s political landscape for nearly three decades. PTI PNT NN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.