59 of 80 TMC MLAs elect Ritabrata Banerjee as leader defying party choice

Mamata’s diktat fails to hold as organisational chaos deepens in Trinamool Congress

By Tirthankar Mitra

KOLKATA: More things change, the more they remain the same Trinamool Congress Legislature Party has split, but it continues to consider Mamata Banerjee as its leader. This was stated in a letter to state Assembly Speaker, Rathindra Bose on Wednesday signed by 59 MLA’S seeking Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition. Akur Zaman was named the chief whip of the legislative party.

Though an earlier letter to the Speaker had the name of Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, the rebel letter challenges the authority of the party. All the more so as Banerjee has been expelled from the TMC for being a whistle blower alleging several signatures of the previous letter stating Chattopadhyay’s name as LOP were forged.

The Trinamool Congress is split. But it seems it is yet loath to bin its biggest vote catcher Mamata Banerjee. This was an unexpected and unprecedented scenario which unfolded following closed door meeting of the rebels and a sit-in demonstration by Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday. A picture speaks a thousand words is an old adage.

That it continues to be relevant was once again driven home by the shrunken size of the first rally of Trinamool Congress supremo, Mamata Banerjee post poll results at Kolkata on Tuesday.. The draw of her call which supporters considered a command appeared to have lost its pull.

Time was when Banerjee was the sole TMC representative in Lok Sabha, a call from her and the city streets would have been choked by the surge of her supporters. Yet the rally on Tuesday comprising a handful of MLAs and MPs together with a few hundred of TMC supporters, a number swelled by the presence of journalists and policemen was a clear pointer to the supremo’s call going unheard and unheeded.

Nothing could have been a greater indication of chaos reigning in party organisation of Trinamool Congress. Without mincing words, TMC organisational structure was never marked by strict discipline. Discipline was lax even when the party toppled the Left Front government in 2011 and started a 15 year long tenure. The party leaders glossed over the issues and stated that the outfit was run on “flexible discipline”.

No one took the trouble of unravelling the nature and character of the terminology. But questions are arising post the ignominious defeat of the party in the Assembly elections. While no answers are yet forthcoming, one golden rule always prevailed in the Trinamool. Mamata Banerjee had the last word on issues big and small.

Be it a government order giving a nod to proceed against a senior doctor of RG Kar hospital in the Abhaya case being held back, or an assent readily given to divest a minister of his portfolio, it was always the supremo’s aye or nay. As for a rally, thousands hit the streets after a call from the party supremo.

But this golden rule in TMC has been flouted by elected representatives as well as the rank and file. There cannot be a more telltale sign of organisational chaos setting in Trinamool Congress than this tiny rally.

Trying to put up a brave face, party spokesman and Beliaghata MLA, Kunal Ghosh said that the MLAs are busy rehabilitating party activists rendered homeless by post-poll violence. But it does not wash given low occurrence of such events. Ghosh pointing out that it was Mamata Banerjee’s charisma that had helped the legislators win, cut no ice. Sources said that these MLAs are not apprehending another election soon.

Differences with leadership read Mamata and her nephew Abhishek have been voiced by the party’s old guard who were with Mamata when she split Congress and floated Trinamool Congress in 1998.. They include Kasba MLA and former minister, Javed Khan and Member, Mayor-in-council, Tarak Singh.

Resignations are pouring in from the different party posts. It ranges from party spokespersons to members of the mayor-in-council of Kolkata Municipal Corporation run by Trinamool Congress. Throwing party discipline to the winds (which these dissenting leaders once considered the supremo’s dictat) fingers are being pointed to the aunt and nephew duo for the poll debacle.

One of the signs of a rebellion in TMC ranks is only 20 MLAs out of 80 elected representatives showing up after the party supremo called a meeting at her residence. It has triggered speculation of potential Maharashtra style Shiv Sena breakaway by dissatisfied group of TMC MLAs.

The situation worsened after the allegedly fake signature of several MLAs seeking nomination of Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay for the post of the leader of the Opposition. The expulsion of the whistle blowers namely Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha instead of quashing dissent has fanned it.

Things are coming to such a pass that the party may split. The rebels laying claim to the party name and symbol is not a distant possibility in the backdrop of recent events.

It is ironical that when the rebel group of MLAs met behind closed doors , the party supremo was participating in a sparsely attended sit-in demonstration. With TMC having 78 MLAs after the expulsion of the duo, support of 52 MLAs is required to float the outfit which seeks to occupy Opposition benches.

Sources stated that TMC MLAs who did not attend the supremo ‘s stay-in demonstration met at the state Assembly .. About 60 MLAs, sources added met the Assembly Speaker, Rathindra Bose seeking to name the leader of the Opposition (LOP); as against the official choice-Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.

Mamata Banerjee of yore would have nipped this rebellion in the party in the bud. In the past, stalwarts like Ajit Panja, Subrata Mukherjee and Sudip Bandopadhayaya had switched loyalties only to return with deflated egos. A clutch of leaders including Cabinet ministers had defected to BJP before 2021 Assembly polls. Some returned chastened while others were lost in the wilderness.

The TMC organisation is now a far cry from what it had been then. There is no criticism let alone a move to initiate any disciplinary move against the rebel law makers even as chaos reigns. Dissenters within the party leadership has cast off all camouflage. Former minister and Mothabari TMC MLA, Sabina Yeasmin on arriving at the state Assembly on Wednesday said she has come to select the leader of the Opposition.

Time was when she would have been slapped with disciplinary proceedings or worse expulsion. But the former minister knows that the leadership has little option but to grin and bear under the existing circumstances of chaos and uncertainty.

Mamata Banerjee has her hands full at the moment. She has to make what appears to be a last ditch stand to keep her flock together and then take on the first ever BJP dispensation in West Bengal. (IPA Service)