Following the West Bengal Assembly elections, after the split in the TMC legislative party, a fracture in the parliamentary party now appears almost certain. Rebel Trinamool Congress MPs held a meeting at the residence of BJP General Secretary Bhupender Yadav. Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal, was also present at this meeting. After the meeting at Bhupender Yadav’s house, senior Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar submitted a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. This letter bears the signatures of 20 TMC MPs. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar has staked a claim to form a separate faction in the Lok Sabha.
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On one hand, Mamata Banerjee was attending the INDIA alliance meeting. On the other hand, rebel MPs submitted a letter to the Speaker to form a separate faction. They have severed all ties with the Trinamool Parliamentary Party. The letter was submitted on Monday at exactly 12:53 PM.
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There are a total of 28 Trinamool MPs in the Lok Sabha. Kakoli stated that 20 of them have signed the document. However, it is not yet clear who signed what. According to sources, the list includes Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Prasun Banerjee, Partha Bhowmick, Sharmila Sarkar, Asit Mal, Jagdish Barma Basunia, Kalipada Soren, Arup Chakraborty, Rachana Banerjee, and Dev. Prior to this, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy had resigned from his parliamentary seat.
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Claim to form a separate faction in the Lok Sabha
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The letter submitted by Kakoli Ghosh states that they are not joining the BJP. However, they will join the NDA. In other words, they want to be part of the NDA alliance as a separate group of the Trinamool. If this letter is accepted, the Trinamool Parliamentary Party will split. However, Om Birla is not present in the Lok Sabha on Monday as he has gone to another state to attend an event. Therefore, the letter has been submitted to his office.
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Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar submitted the letter today in the capacity of Trinamool Congress Chief Whip. Mamata Banerjee had removed her from that post a few days ago. Kalyan Banerjee was appointed to that post, but Kakoli argues that the matter of her removal from that post is not yet in the Lok Sabha records because the Lok Sabha session has not been held in the interim. Based on that argument, Kakoli claimed to be the Chief Whip and submitted the letter.
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Rebellion in TMC after defeat in the elections
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It is worth noting that after the assembly elections, there has been a split in the Trinamool Congress legislative party. Led by Ritabrata Banerjee, 58 MLAs have written a letter to the Assembly Speaker claiming to form a separate faction, and the Assembly Speaker has also granted recognition to it. Now, after the split of the MLAs, the split of the TMC MPs is almost certain.
