New Delhi: A day after TMC rebel Lok Sabha member Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said she and at least 20 other MPs have decided to write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to formally convey their desire to be part of the BJP-led NDA, senior TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee called it “good riddance”, and said those who have any grievance against Mamata Banerjee should resign from the party.
Kalyan Banerjee, the TMC’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, said 24 hours have passed since Dastidar announced her decision but nobody has seen the letter with signature of the MPs who claim to support the move. “Nobody knows if the letter has been sent to the Lok Sabha Speaker at all. Nobody has seen the letter. Why is Kakoli Dastidar not showing the letter with signatures of all the MPs?” Banerjee asked at a press briefing at his Delhi residence on Tuesday.
The TMC leader, who was joined by his colleague Kirti Azad, Lok Sabha MP from Bardhaman-Durgapur, said he can say with authority that the letter is yet to reach the Speaker’s office.
He also cited Schedule 10 of the Constitution, which clearly states that if a bloc or a faction splits from the mother party, only a merger is possible. “For that too, at least two-thirds of the political party has to merge. So, if they want to split they do not have an option but to merge with the BJP,” Banerjee said.
He dared the rebel MPs to visit their respective constituencies and meet party workers. “I want to see how these MPs after joining BJP will go to their constituency and face the workers, who had toiled hard for their victory. These workers are now being picked up and beaten by BJP goons. What are these MPs going to tell them? That they have joined the very party whose goons are beating TMC workers.”
Alleging that the split in the TMC is being orchestrated by the BJP’s central leadership, Banerjee said that it is outrageous that West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari was meeting rebel TMC MPs in Delhi even as portfolios have not been allotted to the BJP ministers a month after they were sworn in.
Banerjee, who has stood steadfast behind Mamata since rebellion broke out in the party ranks following the party’s humiliating defeat at the hands of BJP in the West Bengal elections last month, said that Dastidar should take a cue from Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and resign from her parliamentary seat.
“But she or the other MPs who are supporting her won’t do that as they want power and all the perks, including the security paraphernalia. We are happy they are leaving. It’s good that their double character has been exposed,” he said.
“Those who went to Bhupender Yadav’s residence to meet him and Suvendu Adhikari… today their leader is Narendra Modi. They have become the BJP,” he added.
Asked about TMC’s future course of action, Banerjee said that the party will fight in the state. “We have fought earlier also against the Chief Minister. Now we will fight the BJP under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee,” he said.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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