In West Bengal, the political conflict over Trinamool Congress's claim on its name and election symbol has intensified. After submitting the documents of Ritabrata Banerjee's Democratic Trinamool, now Mamata Banerjee's faction has claimed its strength before the Election Commission. On Sunday, two trucks of documents were delivered to the Election Commission headquarters by Mamata Trinamool, which include affidavits signed by 38 MLAs and 17 MPs.
Tezzbuzz Desk – The affidavit submitted by Mamata Trinamool has signatures of 17 MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, apart from party leader Mamata Banerjee. A total of 38 MLAs have also signed the affidavit demanding recognition of Mamata Trinamool as the 'real Trinamool'. These include 32 MLAs from West Bengal, five from Meghalaya and one from Assam.
Mamata Trinamool MPs Kalyan Banerjee, Dola Sen and Derek O'Brien submitted documents at the Election Commission headquarters in Delhi on Sunday. Kalyan Banerjee said that another truck filled with documents will reach Delhi soon.
Kalyan Banerjee said – submitted the original affidavit
Kalyan Banerjee said that the party has submitted the original affidavit and along with its hard copy, the soft copy has also been given to the Election Commission. He said that these documents will be published and at the appropriate time a copy of the affidavit will also be sent to Ritabrata Banerjee or his lawyer.
Taking aim at Democratic Trinamool, he said that they will also be given a copy of the affidavit. He also alleged that after doing this, the police and team of Shubhendu Adhikari can harass or arrest his people, but they are not afraid of this.
Claims support from party MPs and MLAs
Kalyan Banerjee said that eight MPs of Lok Sabha and nine of Rajya Sabha have signed the affidavit. According to him, none of the MPs who joined NCPI has signed the affidavit of Mamata Trinamool.
He also said that out of the 14 founding members of Trinamool, seven have died and six of the remaining seven have signed the affidavit on behalf of Mamata Trinamool. Signatures of members of Mamata Trinamool's National Working Committee have also been claimed.
Trinamool had won 80 seats in the West Bengal Assembly elections. After Ritabrata Banerjee was elected leader of the opposition in the assembly, he had earlier claimed the support of 58 MLAs. Later he said that this number would increase to 65.
Now it has come to light that Mamata Trinamool has submitted affidavits bearing the signatures of 38 MLAs. It is believed that some MLAs associated with Ritabrata camp have also signed the affidavit of Mamata Trinamool. The ongoing tussle within the party after Mamata's defeat in the assembly elections has now reached the Election Commission.
Ritabrata group has also submitted documents on 5th November
Earlier on November 5, Ritabrata Banerjee's group had filled several trucks with documents and sent them to the Election Commission office. Mamta Trinamool says that it has not yet received copies of those documents.
Mamata Trinamool had earlier alleged that the Ritabrata faction was preparing an affidavit with the help of police and administration and submitting it to the Election Commission. Meanwhile, after the Mamata faction submitted its documents on Sunday, Democratic Trinamool MLA Akhruzzaman claimed that her party has submitted an affidavit with signatures of more than 12 lakh workers, leaders and supporters.
He said that he has signatures of more MLAs than the number of people supporting Ritabrata Banerjee. He said that which party has collected how many signatures, it will become clear only after the hearing in the Election Commission. According to him, he hopes that his documents will include Trinamool's name and Jodaphool election symbol.