Why is there a rebellion in the Trinamool Congress? | Explained
The story so far On June 3, 58 of the 80 MLAs of the Trinamool Congress submitted a letter to the Speaker of the West
The story so far On June 3, 58 of the 80 MLAs of the Trinamool Congress submitted a letter to the Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly supporting the claim of expelled party legislator, Ritabrata Banerjee, to the post of Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly. The Speaker, Rathindra Bose, accepted the claim and appointed the 57-year-old Uluberia Purba MLA as the Leader of the Opposition. What led to the rebellion? The appointment marked the beginning of a rebellion in the Trinamool Congress legislature party, as the party leadership wanted Rashbehari MLA and former Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, 82, to be appointed the Leader of the Opposition. A letter nominating Mr. Chattopadhyay, a 10-time MLA, as the Leader of the Opposition was sent to the Speaker on May 20. However, allegations of signatures of MLAs being forged in the letter surfaced. Two MLAs — Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha — lodged a formal complaint that their signatures had been forged. An FIR was lodged at Kolkata’s Hare Street Police Station and since the letter was signed by Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, the investigation has reached his doorstep. He has been served notice to appear before the investigators. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who justified the Criminal Investigation Department probe by the West Bengal police into the signature scandal, said there was no political vendetta behind the investigation and emphasised that the probe was initiated following complaints by Trinamool MLAs.
On June 1, minutes after the Chief Minister spoke about the investigation, the Trinamool expelled the two MLAs — Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha — for anti-party activities. Within the next two days, the party, which had administered West Bengal for 15 years, faced a rebellion in its legislature party with more than two-third of its MLAs choosing Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition without consulting the party leadership. What is the nature of rebellion? The Trinamool Congress legislature party led by Ritabrata Banerjee has not made any claims to defect to any other party, nor has it announced so far it is starting a new party. Ritabrata Banerjee had said that the faction led by him was the “real” Trinamool Congress legislature party and will serve as a responsible Opposition in the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Though critical of Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, the rebel camp continues declaring its loyalty to the party’s founder and chairperson Mamata Banerjee and wants her as the advisor of the legislature party. The rebels, with the support of about 60 MLAs, have also appointed a chief whip and four deputy leaders. About 20 MLAs remain loyalists to Ms. Banerjee and are publicly targeting the rebels for betraying the party chairperson. What lies ahead?
The BriefWire