Trinamool Congress leader Aroop Biswas on June 12 wrote to HDFC Bank seeking a freeze on the party’s account, citing uncertainty surrounding the authority and control of the organisation’s affairs and assets, NDTV reported on Thursday.

In the letter, Biswas identified himself as the party’s treasurer and said he was acting in that capacity.

However, unidentified persons in the party told NDTV that Biswas was removed as treasurer on June 5 after he lost the Tollygunj seat, a party stronghold, to the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Assembly election.

He was replaced by Subhashish Chakravarty.

Biswas was reported as having written in the letter: “At present rival groups are claiming to be the legitimate representatives and office bearers of AITC, resulting in uncertainty regarding the authority of persons who may seek to operate the bank accounts maintained in the name of AITC.”

Further, Biswas expressed concern that signed cheques already in circulation or held by people whose authority was under dispute could be misused, according to NDTV.

He requested the bank to maintain the status quo and stop debit transactions or changes to the account’s operational mandates until the dispute was resolved.

In December, Biswas stepped down as West Bengal’s sports minister after alleged mismanagement during footballer Lionel Messi’s visit to Kolkata led to chaos at Salt Lake Stadium.

The June 12 letter came amid internal divisions in the TMC following its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly election.

On May 4, the BJP defeated the TMC in the state polls, ending the party’s 15-year rule in West Bengal.

On Sunday, TMC leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that 20 of the party’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs will merge with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party and back the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the Lower House of Parliament.

Three of the TMC’s Rajya Sabha MPs resigned last week, and two of them quit the party.

At the state level, expelled TMC MLA Ritabrata Banerjee claimed that a group of at least 58 of TMC’s 80 legislators had been recognised as the party’s legislature wing in the Assembly. The stand taken by the 58 MLAs is being viewed as a challenge to TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, who is supporting another legislator as the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.