Senior Trinamool leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar
A major political crisis has erupted within the Trinamool Congress after 20 of its 28 Lok Sabha MPs reportedly informed Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla that they want to break away from the party's parliamentary group and join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The group is being led by senior Trinamool leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who is said to have submitted the letter to the Speaker on behalf of the rebel MPs.
According to rebel MP Sharmila Sarkar, the decision was taken at a meeting held at the residence of Union Minister Bhupender Yadav in New Delhi. She said the meeting was attended by Suvendu Adhikari.
"We are 20 MPs. We held a meeting at Bhupender Yadav's residence in the presence of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. We need to support NDA for Bengal's development. Kakoli di submitted the letter," Sarkar said.
The development comes as Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee were in New Delhi to attend a meeting of the INDIA opposition bloc.
The rebellion follows an ongoing internal crisis within the party. Earlier, a large section of Trinamool's MLAs had opposed the leadership's decisions in the state Assembly, and the unrest has now extended to the party's parliamentary ranks.
The support of 20 MPs is significant because it exceeds the two-thirds threshold generally required to avoid disqualification under anti-defection provisions.
The turmoil also spread to the Rajya Sabha, where senior Trinamool leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy announced his resignation from both the Upper House and the party.
In a statement, Roy said he was stepping down in acceptance of what he described as a mandate for change in West Bengal and cited concerns over governance, corruption, law and order, employment, health, and education.
If the reported split is formally recognised, it would significantly weaken the Trinamool Congress' position in Parliament and strengthen the NDA's numbers in the Lok Sabha.