You could call it a day that started off as business as usual but turned into an open split for the TMC. Moitra has put it out there that her senior colleague, Bandyopadhyay, was up to no good after he was spotted with a Union minister from the BJP. On top of that, you have a coterie of rebel MPs making their case for being recognised as something apart from the rest of the house.
Delhi meeting fuels internal challenge
Those in the know say Bandyopadhyay, who has been an MP for six terms, was in New Delhi with Satabdi Roy, one of the dissidents, to see environment minister Bhupender Yadav. It was a delicate time for such a visit, given the talk in the corridors of power that a rebel block might be in talks with the Lok Sabha Speaker for their own recognition.
Moitra made it a point of public record, putting out a post to the effect that Bandyopadhyay had told people he was in a Kolkata hospital with a bad stomach, when in fact TV cameras had him at Yadav’s place in the capital. She even made a quip about him changing his social media name to better suit his new-look ties with the BJP.
Swift organisational response
The TMC didn’t wait long to put down any pretence of unity. Hours after the Delhi run-in, they made Bandyopadhyay a former president of the North Kolkata district, handing the reins to Kunal Ghosh, the state’s face to the press. It was a way for the top brass to reassert themselves in a situation that was moving fast.
Ghosh didn’t mince words later on, pointing to Bandyopadhyay’s history of party-hopping and how much Mamata Banerjee had done for him. He also let on that he had been raising red flags about Bandyopadhyay within the party for some time.
Parliamentary arithmetic raises the stakes
The numbers are starting to tell a story. Of the 28 MPs the TMC has in the Lok Sabha, 19 have put their weight behind a separate group in the Lower House. One insider put it this way: the rebels are banking on having the votes, and whatever the Speaker decides will be the end of it.
You can see the tension in the state assembly as well. Some 64 of the 80 MLAs, with Ritabrata Banerjee at the helm, were at odds with the party chief over her choice of Sovandeb Chattopadhyay for Leader of the Opposition.
What comes next
Word on the street is that 20 of the TMC’s MPs, who like to think of themselves as the ‘real’ ones, will be before Speaker Om Birla on June 15 to make their case for a table of their own. Some say the dissidents may not even wait until then and could be in front of the Speaker by Monday for a formal nod.
Here is what has been making headlines:
– The Delhi sit-down between Bandyopadhyay and Yadav
– Moitra saying he was not where he said he was
– Bandyopadhyay out as head of the North Kolkata unit
– 19 of 28 TMC MPs in favour of a split
– 64 of 80 MLAs in opposition to a top appointment
– A date set with the Speaker for the 15th
Why the confrontation matters now
This is more than just two politicians trading jabs. If a separate bloc is to be acknowledged, it will be a test of who has the upper hand in defining the TMC in Parliament, and the Speaker’s word will be law. For now, it is an open question as to who is really in charge of the party’s voice in the house and in the back rooms.
Then there is the image of a TMC MP in the company of a BJP minister, which has only sown more doubt among the ranks. By making an issue of loyalty and what they see as duplicity, the likes of Moitra and Ghosh are making it clear that discipline is what will count, not just a headcount.
Signals from both camps
A proper audience with the Speaker would be a win for the dissidents. They point to their strength in the numbers in both the assembly and Parliament as proof they are the ones who matter, while they bide their time for a ruling.
The leadership, for its part, is trying to ring-fence the problem. Ousting Bandyopadhyay in North Kolkata was a no-nonsense way of showing the party won’t stand for any kind of insubordination.
We’ll have to wait for the Speaker to make the final call. In the meantime, you can read into every move – be it a trip to Delhi or a change in personnel – as a play for control of the Trinamool’s future in the country’s parliament.
