TMC rejects rebel move, confirms Mamata Banerjee as party chief
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New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has submitted a fresh list of its office-bearers and National Working Committee members to the Election Commission, reaffirming that Mamata Banerjee remains the party chief, IANS reported on Tuesday.
The move came a day after a group of rebel West Bengal MLAs led by Ritabrata Banerjee claimed to have removed Mamata Banerjee as the party chairperson. The rebel group named party leader Arup Roy as the chief of what it called the “real TMC”.
Ritabrata Banerjee said the legislators wanted Mamata Banerjee to continue as their chief adviser. He also announced that 29 other members had been elected to the National Working Committee of the “real TMC”.
However, in a letter issued on Monday, the TMC reiterated that Mamata Banerjee continues to be the party’s chief. The letter named Subrata Bakshi as the party’s vice president, Abhishek Banerjee as the national general secretary and Lok Sabha leader, and Derek O’Brien among six office-bearers. It also listed 24 members of the National Working Committee.
Ritabrata Banerjee claimed that the TMC Constitution requires the formation of a National Working Committee every three years and argued that the last committee was formed in February 2022.
“We are the Trinamool Congress,” he was quoted as saying. “We will shortly set up a state committee, district committees, spokespersons, and frontal organisations.”
He added that the rebel MLAs would inform the Election Commission about their decision.
The TMC has been facing internal divisions and rebellions after it lost the Assembly elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in May. On June 3, nearly 60 of the TMC’s 80 MLAs rebelled against the party leadership and chose Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly.
The group was recognised by the Assembly Speaker as the party’s legislature party in the House, and Ritabrata Banerjee was recognised as the Leader of the Opposition.
On Thursday, the Calcutta High Court refused to grant interim relief in a petition challenging the Speaker’s decision to recognise Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition. The petition was filed by TMC leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who had been nominated by the faction supporting Mamata Banerjee for the post.
On June 14, TMC leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that 20 of the party’s Lok Sabha MPs would merge with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens’ Party and support the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
On Friday, Abhishek Banerjee submitted petitions to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking the disqualification of the 20 rebel MPs, alleging that they had left the party.
Earlier this month, three TMC Rajya Sabha MPs resigned, while two of them also quit the party.