The Trinamool Congress has sent a fresh list of its office-bearers and National Working Committee members to the Election Commission, stating that Mamata Banerjee is the party chief, IANS reported on Tuesday.

This came after a group of rebel West Bengal MLAs led by Ritabrata Banerjee “removed” Mamata Banerjee as the party chairperson on Monday. The rebel MLAs named party leader Arup Roy as the chief of “real TMC”.

Ritabrata Banerjee said that the legislators wanted Mamata Banerjee to serve as their chief adviser.

Twenty-nine other members have been elected to the “real TMC’s” National Working Committee, he added.

However, in a letter issued on Monday, the TMC reiterated that Mamata Banerjee remained the party chief. The document named Subrata Bakshi as the party’s vice president, Abhishek Banerjee as the national general secretary and Lok Sabha leader, and Derek O’Brien among the six office-bearers. It also listed 24 members of its National Working Committee.

Ritabrata Banerjee had contended that the TMC’s Constitution required the formation of a national working committee every three years and that the last panel was set up in February 2022.

“We are the Trinamool Congress,” he was quoted as saying. “We will shortly set up a state committee, district committees, spokesperson and frontal organisations.”

He added that the MLAs would inform the Election Commission about their decision.

Internal divisions in TMC

The TMC has been beset by internal divisions and rebellions after it lost the Assembly elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party in May. On June 3, nearly 60 out of the TMC’s 80 MLAs rebelled against the party leadership to choose Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition in the House.

The group has been recognised by the Assembly speaker as the party’s legislature party in the House, and Ritabrata Banerjee has been recognised as the leader of the Opposition.

On Thursday, the Calcutta High Court declined to grant interim relief in a petition challenging the speaker’s decision to recognise Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition. The petition was filed by TMC leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who had been nominated by the group supporting Mamata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition.

On June 14, TMC leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that 20 of the party’s Lok Sabha MPs will merge with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens’ Party and back the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

On Friday, Abhishek Banerjee submitted petitions to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding that the 20 rebel MPs be disqualified on the grounds of leaving the party.

Earlier this month, three of the TMC’s Rajya Sabha MPs resigned, and two of them quit the party.

Edited by Sneha.

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