Mamata Banerjee’s troubles are increasing after losing power in West Bengal. Now Mamta’s party is also on the verge of collapse. The party which Mamata had founded 28 years ago can now be taken away from her. On Wednesday, everyone saw its trailer in the Secretariat of Bengal Assembly. In fact, Mamata Banerjee, who was the Chief Minister till a month ago, is today struggling to save her party. But there doesn’t seem to be much control in his hands now. Let us tell the story of the breakup of Mamata Banerjee’s party in detail in this report.
On Wednesday, when rebel TMC MLAs came to meet Speaker Rathindra Bose. At that time, about 58 TMC MLAs were present in this room, who handed over the letter of support to Ritabrata Banerjee, who had been expelled from the party, to elect him as the Leader of Opposition. According to sources, this letter in support of Ritabrata Banerjee has signatures of 58 MLAs. Ritabrata Banerjee was asked to be made the leader of the opposition and Akhruzzaman was asked to be made the chief whip. Whereas Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha and Shiuli Saha were handed over the letter of making them deputy leaders. The special thing is that in the letter submitted to the Assembly Speaker, it has mentioned Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee as its chairperson.
This is indicating that right now the rebellion of the rebels is not against Mamata Banerjee, but against making Shobhandev Chattopadhyay the leader of the opposition. That’s why he chose his LOP instead of Shobhandev. Which was accepted by the speaker and Ritabrata Banerjee was declared the leader of the opposition. Leader of Opposition’s room was also allotted to Ritabrata Banerjee.
Big claim of Bengal opposition leader Ritabrata Banerjee
After becoming the Leader of Opposition, Ritabrata Banerjee claimed that the group he is representing is the real Trinamool. He said that Abhishek Banerjee will have no role in the party. Amidst the rebellion of the MLAs, Trinamool Congress has dissolved all its organizational committees and advance organizations in West Bengal with immediate effect. The party said that introspection, performance review and comprehensive evaluation will be done at every level of the organization, after which there will be a fresh restructuring of the organization.
Will Mamta’s party break?
Now the question is whether Mamata Banerjee’s party will break? Will Mamata lose control over the party due to the rebellion of the MLAs? This needs to be understood from data. Actually, 80 TMC MLAs had won in the assembly elections. According to the rules, to form a separate faction, they need at least two-thirds i.e. 54 MLAs. This group has claimed signatures of 58 MLAs in its support. That means Mamata Banerjee’s words could not be heard inside the Assembly. But it is also true that the rebels have considered Mamata Banerjee as their president in their letter. However, the Trinamool leadership is calling this entire exercise a betrayal.
Listen to rebel TMC MLAs
TMC MLA Mustafizur Rahman says that I am listening from outside. 59 signatures have been received. I have also signed that we are not against the party. LOP must have spent 5 years in the Assembly and must be senior. TMC MLA Mohammad Nazrul Islam says, “We all are with Mamata Banerjee. LOP can be anyone whom the MLAs will choose. The party belongs to Mamata Banerjee. We are with her.”
Dilip taunted, Ranjan said – TMC MLAs are scared
West Bengal government minister Dilip Ghosh took a dig at TMC and said that like Shiv Sena, it is a fight to come out of the family. This is an example of familyism coming to an end. Those who abuse are garlanding our leaders today. At the same time, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary says that these people are bowing down before BJP out of fear. There are allegations of corruption against the people trying to form a new party. TMC MLAs only want to escape.
The question is also whether Mamata Banerjee has lost control over her party? The answer to this question may be yes to a large extent. Last Sunday, Mamata Banerjee had called a meeting of MLAs, in which only 20 MLAs attended, then it was assumed that there could be a rebellion in TMC but very few people would have expected it to happen so soon.
58 out of 80 MLAs are now against Mamata
58 out of 80 MLAs are now against Mamata Banerjee. Which is more than the limit required to claim the party name and election symbol. In Bengal too, the legislative party has divided in the same way as it happened with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra in 2022. The rebel group with 58 MLAs wanted the recognition of the post of Leader of Opposition by claiming the majority of elected representatives, which it got, while the 22 MLAs of the official TMC faction led by Mamata Banerjee, claiming organizational rights, are calling Shobhandeb as the Leader of Opposition.
To officially claim the name of Trinamool Congress and a pair of flowers as the election symbol, the rebels will need a two-thirds majority in the organization and the parliamentary party. With the signatures of 58 MLAs, he appears to have crossed this limit. However, the mathematics of the organization is different.
Legislative party disbanded, parliamentary party left
The question is that the legislative party has broken, in such a situation will Mamata Banerjee’s party break? If a political party splits into two groups, the Election Commission decides on the actual party name and election symbol. The contending group has to prove that it has more MPs and MLAs of the party. For this, letters of support signed by MPs and MLAs are given to the Commission. The claimant also has to show that most of the party officials and organizations are with him. The support of the National Executive, Core Committee and other key leaders is also considered important. Right now only the legislature party of Mamata Banerjee’s party has broken. There is no visible breakdown in the parliamentary party and organization. Accordingly, it is not so easy to get the party out of Mamata’s hands.
This happened in Maharashtra also
However, in the case of Shiv Sena, on the basis of two-third majority in the legislative party and parliamentary party in 2022, the Election Commission had considered the Eknath Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena and had given them the election symbol and party name. Even the Supreme Court did not stay the decision of the Election Commission. In such a situation, it is possible that like the Shinde faction, this matter may also go to court, which means there are many legal angles left in this news.
The noose is tightening on Mamta’s nephew Abhishek
There is also political reaction on this, opposition parties are alleging that BJP is breaking TMC, BJP says that TMC itself is breaking, they have no contribution. Meanwhile, to investigate the teacher recruitment scam, the ED team also reached the Kalighat residence of TMC MP and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday. That means, from both political and legal point of view, Abhishek Banerjee’s troubles have increased.
What do Supreme Court lawyers say?
Supreme Court lawyer Gyanant Singh says that two-thirds of the people can join a party. Anti-defection law does not apply to two-thirds of the number. The Speaker acts as a judge in the anti-defection law. People with two-third majority can claim to be a real party. Overall, it can be said that after the Shiv Sena case, it became clear that if the majority of MLAs and MPs of any party go with any faction, then the Election Commission gives great importance to it.
Organizational majority is important, but legislative majority can also play a decisive role. The final decision is taken by the Election Commission and its decision can be judicially reviewed in the Supreme Court. There is also a need to look at this matter from the angle of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution. Because the anti-defection law gets activated due to the defections of the MLA. Under the Anti-Defection Act, 1985 in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, the Speaker of the House has the power to disqualify members in cases of defection.
Under paragraph 8 of the Tenth Schedule, the Speaker is empowered to make rules and procedures to implement anti-defection provisions. In which if a legislative party breaks up and two-thirds of its MLAs join another party, then they can join any other party and it is considered a valid merger. But it is the Speaker’s right to decide whether this division or merger fulfills the legal conditions or not.
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