Difficult days have begun for Trinamool Congress (TMC). The Mamata Banerjee-led party, which was in power in West Bengal for 15 years, was reduced to just 80 seats in the assembly elections held on May 4. Now open rebellion in the party has made the situation worse.
This week, 58 TMC MLAs openly rebelled against the orders of Mamata Banerjee. They claimed to become the main opposition party in the assembly and divided the party into two. This is the first major split in the 30-year history of TMC. Mamta Banerjee left Congress and formed this party in 1998.
Also read: 4 occasions in Mamata Banerjee’s political career, when she became isolated
Who is leading the rebellion?
Ritabrata Banerjee is leading the rebel MLAs. He was recently expelled from the party. After meeting the Assembly Speaker on Wednesday, Ritabrata Banerjee declared himself the leader of the opposition. The speaker also accepted his claim.
Ritabrata Banerjee, Leader of Opposition, West Bengal:-
We 58 MLAs won on the election symbol of TMC. Now we are the real TMC.
Even Muslim MLAs do not like Mamata Banerjee
Nearly half of TMC’s Muslim MLAs are also included in the rebels. He said that he wants to make Mamata Banerjee his chief advisor, but will not have any relation with her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
The meeting was held at Mamta’s house, what was the result?
On Friday, a party meeting was called at Mamata Banerjee’s Kolkata residence. Apart from the rebels, only 8 MLAs arrived. These included leaders like Madan Mitra, Kunal Ghosh, Firhad Hakim, Sobhandev Chattopadhyay. Some MPs were also there.
Also read: Big reshuffle in TMC, Sayoni Ghosh gets big responsibility; many new appointments
TMC will now go to court?
TMC has called the Speaker’s decision illegal. Party MP Kalyan Banerjee said, ‘We will file a petition in the High Court on Monday.’ He alleged that BJP is targeting TMC workers.
Where does TMC stand in mathematics?
TMC has 28 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 13 in the Rajya Sabha, but this rebellion in the Assembly is a big blow to the party. The party is now talking about fighting on the streets also.
What will happen next?
This crisis is raising questions on the future of TMC. For the first time the 30 year old party is getting divided on such a large scale. Now the eyes of the country’s politics are fixed on how Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee deal with this rebellion.
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