Maharashtra-model in Bengal? Mamata Banerjee fights to fend off crisis amid MLA exodus buzz

KOLKATA: The ‘M’ word entered the lexicon of Bengal politics on Tuesday, with both Trinamool and BJP seniors referring to the ‘Maharashtra model’ to explain what is happening to Trinamool Congress following the Signgate mess.Tapas Roy, who took oath on Monday as a cabinet minister in Bengal’s first BJP govt and was with TMC till March 2024, referred to the ‘Maharashtra model’ in a Facebook post on Tuesday and claimed more than 50 MLAs from Mamata Banerjee’s party could switch allegiance any time.The model refers to the 2022 split in Shiv Sena following a rebellion by two-thirds of the party’s legislators in the Maharashtra assembly. With enough MLAs to circumvent the anti-defection law, the breakaway faction successfully staked claim to the party’s name and symbol.Former CM Banerjee, desperate to keep her flock together, referred to reports about a possible rift in her party during a protest in Esplanade on Tuesday. Comparing the detractors to Mir Jafars, she said, “Party legislators are not being allowed to leave home and cops are telling them to abandon TMC. They are being told to form a new Trinamool. Who will form it? Those who have been with the party since the beginning or those who have symbolically won? Bengal is witnessing bulldozer politics and everyone is being threatened.”Only eight of Trinamool’s 78 MLAs and four of its 42 MPs joined Banerjee’s dharna.CM Suvendu Adhikari hit back at Banerjee’s claims, saying, “Only three MPs and six MLAs turned up at Mamata Banerjee’s dharna. TMC is in a pathetic condition.” He said the party now “resembles Falta”, where TMC came fourth in the assembly polls and lost the seat to BJP.Roy said in his post, “Trinamool has splintered. Its condition resembles what happened in Maharashtra. Ritabrata brought 50 MLAs to meet the speaker.”Roy later told reporters, “There is a growing dissatisfaction among many netas and legislators. The developments indicate the party is heading towards a split, like what happened in Maharashtra.”MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, who was expelled by TMC on Monday in connection with the Signgate row, did go to the assembly on Tuesday but denied Roy’s claims. “Those who are saying I held a meeting (with TMC MLAs) at a south Kolkata hotel will have to prove it,” he said, refusing to comment on speculation that 50 MLAs could join him.There were, however, reports that Ritabrata would go to the assembly on Wednesday with a “list of detractors”. He and Sandipan Saha, another MLA expelled by TMC, are also likely to attend CM Adhikari’s administrative meeting in Nabanna on Wednesday.The crisis imploded after Ritabrata and Saha complained to the assembly speaker that the party’s resolution bearing their signatures proposing Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the leader of opposition (LoP) was forged. They alleged that 14 of the 70 signatures were in “block letters”.Three TMC MLAs- Arup Roy, Subhasish Das and Baharul Islam, have told the SIT probe team the signatures were not theirs. The Bankshall court has allowed investigators to collect their handwriting and signature samples.TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who sent the resolution to the speaker, was asked to appear before CID on June 8. He had skipped the first call citing health reasons.To bypass the legal tangle, TMC MLAs Kunal Ghosh and Ashima Patra carried another letter signed by Abhishek, reiterating the proposal for Chattopadhyay’s appointment as LoP, to the speaker’s office on Tuesday. Ghosh alleged the office secretary refused to accept the letter “under verbal instructions”. A TMC MP later said the letter had been emailed to the speaker.The letter, which also proposed Patra and Nayana Bandyopadhyay as deputy LoPs and Firhad Hakim as chief whip, cited the 2001 precedent where speaker Hashim Abdul Halim accepted TMC’s Pankaj Banerjee as LoP without a letter signed by all its MLAs. The practice was followed in 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2021 as well.BJP minister Roy questioned the letter’s legality because it lacked signatures by elected MLAs.