Inside TMC’s crisis: Rebellion, succession, and a ray of hope
The TMC is now split into three factions, with Mamata Banerjee eyeing a political comeback.
The Trinamool Congress’ house of cards is collapsing. The setback that began with a defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under Suvendu Adhikari, once a Mamata Banerjee confidant, appears far from over.
As the recent polls concluded, the party saw its Assembly seats dwindle from 215 to 80. It soon opened a can of worms, fuelling allegations of internal corruption and exposing fault lines over the party’s succession, with Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee at the centre of the storm.
At least two-thirds or 58 of its 80 MLAs have rebelled. The exodus has also reached Parliament, with 20 member of parliaments merging with a little-known outfit – slashing the TMC’s Lok Sabha tally from 28 to eight, and the Rajya Sabha count from 13 to 10.
The first signs of trouble for the TMC emerged over the appointment of the Leader of the Opposition. After Abhishek Banerjee submitted a letter to the Speaker nominating 10-time MLA Sovandeb Chattopadhyay for the post, allegations surfaced that the signatures of several MLAs had been forged.
Two TMC MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha lodged a formal complaint and were promptly expelled from the party for anti-party activities. Within days, however, the tide had turned. On June 3, backed by 58 rebel MLAs, Ritabrata Banerjee was appointed the Leader of the Opposition by the Speaker.
With the two factions at loggerheads, a debate has begun over which bloc is the “original TMC”. The Mamata bloc dissolved all the party committees for a reset, while her loyalists said that an ousted leader cannot lead the party in the Assembly.
Meanwhile, as investigations began against TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee by the Kolkata police, the party’s crisis spread to its seats in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
On June 8, at least 20 TMC MPs, led by four-time MP and party chief whip in the Lok Sabha Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, reportedly met BJP leader and Bengal “observer” Bhupender Yadav at his Delhi residence and pledged support to the BJP-led NDA.
Incidentally, the MPs did not resign their seats, but crossed-over to a “little known” Nationalist Citizens Party of India, as a separate bloc supporting the NDA – purportedly to bypass the anti-defection law. With this, the BJP-led NDA’s tally stands at 314 in the Lok Sabha, 46 MPs short of the two-thirds majority mark.
Dastidar, who earlier resigned from her post as the TMC Mahila Congress president, wrote in a letter, “During my tenure, it has not been possible to stop the inappropriate behaviour of another educated woman MP towards women MPs, nor has empathy been received from the higher leadership. Remaining in such a position no longer holds meaning.”
The letter also mentioned the rape and murder case involving RG Kar Medical College and the controversies surrounding the I-PAC.
In an apparent effort to assuage anger within the party, in the days following the deflections, Mamata Banerjee created new posts of national joint secretary and appointed Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen to them.
Amid what is being described as perhaps the biggest crisis of Mamata Banerjee’s career, speculation has grown over a possible Congress role in her political comeback. She recently held a closed-door meeting with Sonia Gandhi on opposition unity and support for the TMC. While merger rumours surfaced, no official talks confirmed them. The Congress has, however, extended legal support to the party.
Amid perhaps the biggest crisis of Mamata’s political career, speculations are rife that the Congress could play a pivotal role in her comeback. She recently held a closed-door meeting with Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on opposition unity and support for the TMC. Rumours also emerged that the two parties could be negotiating a merger.
Meanwhile, Chandan Ghosh Choudhury, a prominent leader of the Congress in West Bengal, said that “proposal for the merger of the TMC has been floated, but an official decision has not yet been taken.” But media reports cited other sources in the Congress, saying that the merger could be a possibility “in the future”.
Notably, CBI and ED investigations in the state have also intensified, with action taken against several local TMC leaders. Recently, BJP MLA Pawan Singh said that the TMC had been involved in “large-scale corruption” and now several of its leaders are under “increasing scrutiny”. He said, “When the TMC was in power, they would not cooperate with investigations at all. Now that they are out of power, the ED, CBI, and CID are conducting inquiries with greater strictness.”