New Delhi:
Rebel Trinamool Congress MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at his Delhi house this evening to demand a separate seating arrangement for themselves in the house, sources have said. The rebel MPs assert themselves as the “real Trinamool Congress”.
The list of MPs include Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Rachna Banerjee, Jagadish Chandra Barma, Partha Bhowmick, Arup Chakraborty, Adhikari Deepak Dev, Sayani Ghosh, Bapi Haldar, Abu Taher Khan, Kalipada Saren Kherwal, Asit Kumar, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, and a few others.
A photo of a meeting of the rebel MPs with Union Minister Bhupender Yadav at his Delhi house earlier showed at least 16 MPs. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said there are at least 22 dissidents now.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, once close to Mamata Banerjee, has decided to stay with the dissident camp after an appeal from rebel MPs and MLAs.
MPs Saayoni Ghosh and Mala Roy, who landed in Delhi ahead of the rebels’ meeting with the Speaker, declined to speak to reporters at the airport. As troubles mounted for the Trinamool, the party carried out a fresh organisational reshuffle, removing Ghosh, Roy and Bandyopadhyay from key positions.
Arnab Banerjee was appointed president of the Trinamool Youth Congress, replacing Ghosh, while Kaliganj MLA Alifa Ahmed replaced Roy as the president of the party’s women’s wing.
In another significant change, Kunal Ghosh was named president of the party’s North Kolkata organisational district, replacing Bandyopadhyay.
The Trinamool has rejected the rebels’ contention and maintained that anti-defection law does not allow formation of a separate group within Parliament. Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said there was “no legal provision” for a separate group and argued that MPs could face disqualification unless their original political party merged with another party under provisions of the 10th Schedule.
“The crucial condition is that the original party has to merge with another party. There is no legal provision for a ‘separate group’ inside Parliament or an assembly while sitting on an MP or MLA seat won on the original party’s name and symbol,” she said in a post on X. “The law is clear. No separate group inside the House on the same symbol is legal. Merge with a new party or be disqualified,” Ghose added.
