New Delhi: The crisis in the Trinamool Congress worsened Friday as a group of dissident MPs claiming the support of 19 Lok Sabha members announced they would meet Speaker Om Birla next week to seek recognition as the “real TMC” parliamentary group, a move the Mamata Banerjee-led party dismissed as legally untenable under the anti-defection law.
Rebel MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia said the dissident camp submitted a representation to the Speaker and would formally stake its claim Monday.
“We have submitted the letter… On Monday, we will go to the Speaker and stake our claim to form the real TMC parliamentary group. We will ask the Speaker to give recognition to our claim,” Basunia told PTI Videos.
He said the process to collect signatures began June 8 and that 19 MPs had signed the representation. Sources said the timing of the meeting had not been finalised.
Sources in the dissident camp said nearly 20 MPs are expected to reach Delhi ahead of Monday’s meeting and hold consultations on their future course of action.
The announcement drew a sharp response from the TMC, which maintained that the dissidents’ claim had no legal basis. Party MP Mahua Moitra said the Constitution’s 91st Amendment had removed provisions for a split and that lawmakers seeking to leave a party would have to merge with another political party.
“Traitor TMC lawmakers don’t know the law. Constitution 91st Amendment 2003 removed the provision for a split/separate bloc. The number of MPs is irrelevant — 2/3 of the original political party has to merge with another party. All 19 traitors need to resign & contest on BJP ticket,” she said in a post on X.
TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh demanded that the signatures circulating on social media be matched with the specimen signatures available with the Lok Sabha Secretariat to establish their authenticity.
The latest flashpoint comes amid the TMC’s worst organisational crisis in recent years, with a rebellion that began in West Bengal after the party’s assembly election defeat now spilling over into Parliament.
Amid the churn within the party, a purported list carrying the names and signatures of 19 TMC Lok Sabha MPs was circulated online, though the purported letter to Birla was not in the public domain.
Sources close to the dissident camp claimed the MPs had informed the Lok Sabha Speaker about the formation of a separate parliamentary bloc under Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and conveyed their decision to support the BJP-led NDA while retaining a distinct political identity.
Dissident TMC leaders claimed that the document, which could not be independently verified, reflected support for their move.
The list reportedly carries the signatures of Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Satabdi Roy, Bapi Haldar, Sharmila Sarkar, Prasun Bandyopadhyay, Jagadish Barma Basunia, Asit Kumar Mal, Arup Chakraborty, Rachna Banerjee, Saayoni Ghosh, Khalilur Rahaman, Abu Taher Khan, Yusuf Pathan, Mitali Bag, Mala Roy, Kalipada Soren, Deepak Adhikari, June Malia, and Partha Bhowmick.
“The list that has gone viral is real. A few more are likely to join us,” a rebel MP told PTI.
TMC MP Kirti Azad, however, alleged that the BJP was attempting to engineer defections through “Operation Lotus” and claimed that efforts to split the party had not succeeded.
“Operation Lotus, under the guidance of Amit Shah, is underway,” Azad said in a post on X on Friday, claiming that it had “failed so far”.
Citing Rajya Sabha MP Prakash Chik Baraik’s appearance outside BJP leader Nishikant Dubey’s residence, a meeting of dissident MPs at Union minister Bhupender Yadav’s residence, and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s visit to TMC MP Satabdi Roy’s residence, Azad alleged that there was an organised attempt to weaken the party.
On Thursday, Baraik became the third TMC parliamentarian to resign from both the party and the Upper House this week, after Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and Sushmita Dev.
The crisis also exposed internal fault lines in the party.
Senior TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee on Thursday launched a sharp attack on party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and declared that he would remain in the party only if Abhishek is removed from all leadership positions.
Seeking to downplay internal differences within the TMC, Azad defended Kalyan Banerjee.
“Everything is okay, there’s no problem. Kalyan Banerjee is emotional. He has been with Didi through bad times; he can never betray her or stab her in the back,” Azad told PTI Videos.
Basunia, meanwhile, backed Kalyan Banerjee’s criticism of Abhishek Banerjee and also hit back at Azad over his remarks that dissident MPs were being given money to shift loyalty.
“Kirti Azad is a liar. This is not right to say. We are 19 MPs, and he is also an MP… it is not right to make such allegations,” said Basunia.
The turmoil has also forced changes in the party’s arrangements in the national capital. The TMC has shifted its Delhi operations from 20, Rajendra Prasad Road — the government bungalow allotted to Lok Sabha MP Partha Bhowmick, where the party’s Delhi office had been functioning since last year — back to the 61, South Avenue residence of Rajya Sabha MP Md Nadimul Haque.
Bhowmick, who is among the MPs associated with the dissident camp, gave up his bungalow and requested a flat instead, according to sources.
The West Bengal-based party has witnessed a series of exits this week with three Rajya Sabha MPs — Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik — resigning from the party.
Even as the rebellion gathered momentum, several senior leaders publicly reaffirmed their support for Mamata Banerjee.
Lok Sabha MPs Sougata Roy, Shatrughan Sinha and Pratima Mondal, as well as Rajya Sabha MP Babul Supriyo, have denied being part of any dissident grouping and asserted that they would remain with the party.
The dissidents’ claim has also triggered a debate over the anti-defection law. TMC leaders have argued that while a group backed by two-thirds of MPs may seek protection from disqualification under merger provisions, the law does not provide for the formation of a separate parliamentary bloc.
PTI
