Trinamool Congress, the principal opposition party of West Bengal, has been witnessing growing internal fighting after a group of legislators backed expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee for the post of Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
The development comes less than a month after the Trinamool Congress’s poor poll show in West Bengal, where the BJP under Suvendu Adhikari formed the government by winning 207 out of 274 assembly seats.
According to the reports “out of Trinamool Congress’s 80 MLAs, 59 reached the Assembly and expressed support for Banerjee, openly challenging the leadership’s decision to back senior leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay for the role. The legislators submitted a letter naming Mamata Banerjee as the party leader while proposing Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition. The letter also suggested Sheuli Saha, Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha and Sabina Yasmin as deputy leaders in the House. Sources hinted that the rebel camp is unwilling to accept Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the Opposition leader.
Expelled MLA Sandipan Saha claimed that the rebel group enjoys support from “more than two-thirds” of the party’s legislators. The claim has gained significance amid discussions within political circles that the group could be attempting to secure sufficient numbers to avoid anti-defection provisions in the event of any future political realignment.
The ongoing developments come against the backdrop of declining attendance at party meetings following the TMC’s poor show in West Bengal Assembly polls. While 71 of the party’s 80 MLAs reportedly attended a meeting at Mamata Banerjee’s residence on May 6, the number later drop to 65 on May 19 and further dropped to just 20 by May 31.
Several legislators were not attended party programmes and protests led by Mamata Banerjee, further fuelling speculation about internal fighting.