KOLKATA: After a split in its state legislative wing, Trinamool’s parliamentary party is also headed for a split, with several MPs already in New Delhi or expected to reach there by next week.
Anticipating the development during a party National Working Committee meeting at her residence on Friday,
Mamata Banerjee clipped national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s wings by appointing senior MPs Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen as joint national secretaries.
Abhishek’s growing clout and style of functioning are the primary reasons for the mutiny within the party.
Mamata herself will be reaching Delhi on June 8 along with Abhishek and Derek to attend the INDIA bloc meeting.
Trinamool has 28 MPs in Lok Sabha and a two-thirds split (to beat anti-defection law) would require at least 19 of them to form a bloc.
Among the disgruntled MPs, Jagadish Chandra Basunia (Cooch Behar) is already in Delhi, ostensibly to meet an ailing relative. Among those likely to reach the capital next week are two actor-MPs.
Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who continued her tirade against the party leadership on Friday, denied any role in trying to split the parliamentary party. “I refute allegations that I am trying to create a rift within the parliamentary party and trying to influence other MPs. I am in Kolkata and have not been to Delhi,” she said.
Four Lok Sabha MPs — Abhishek, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Kalyan Banerjee and Mala Roy — attended the meeting at Mamata’s Kalighat home. Two other Lok Sabha MPs, Sajda Ahmed and Saayoni Ghosh, were given important party posts on Friday — Sajda will be party vice-president and Saayoni Trinamool Youth Congress chief.
Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra, Dum Dum MP Saugata Roy and Bardhaman-Durgapur MP Kirti Azad did not attend Friday’s meeting but have thrown their weight behind Mamata Banerjee.
Sougata Ray said, “Operation Lotus is BJP’s politics. They try to break parties by money power and threats. BJP has done this in Maharashtra and Bihar. We have to face it. Initially, it will be very disappointing, but if one can hold out, we can absorb the immediate impact.”
The remaining MPs did not spell out their stance. Murshidabad MP Abu Taher Khan was non-committal. “Whoever remains in control of the party, I will toe the party line and will do what the party asks me to do,” he said.
Ritabrata Banerjee, who led the split in the party’s legislative wing, said he had not spoken to any MP in the past seven days but added, “Nobody can say what will happen tomorrow. Have patience,” he told ANI.
A party senior, who is part of Trianmool’s national working committee, said: “The party is not blind to the developments. The party has reviewed the election results and decided that Abhishek’s workload needs to be shared. Mamata Banerjee has put in place a collective leadership.” Veteran MP Sudip Bandopadhyay said, “Mamata Banerjee is confident that she will bring things back under her control very soon.”
Mamata on Friday completely overhauled the party set-up, picking Chandrima Bhattacharya to lead the state unit as president (in place of Subrata Bakshi). Chandrima will be assisted by four vice-presidents — MPs Sajda Ahmed and Mamata Thakur, MLA Nayana Bandyopadhyay and Swati Khandekar.
MP Mala Roy will head the women’s wing. Madan Mitra will head the party’s hawker union and former labour minister Moloy Ghatak will replace Ritabrata in the trade union wing. Aroop Biswas will no longer be party treasurer; Subhasish Chakraborty will take up the post.
On some rebels claiming that they were misled into believing that Mamata would be chief of the rebel bloc and not chief adviser (as announced by Ritabrata), MP Kalyan Banerjee said, “We can’t simply act on what they said to the media. They may later deny it. If they believe they have been misled, let them write to Mamata Banerjee, then it can be decided. But I would suggest that they go back to their electorate, hold a party workers’ meet and get it endorsed that they have abandoned Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool but would still like to be their MLA.”
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