Rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators, headed by Ritabrata Banerjee, on Friday occupied the party’s multi-storey rented office in Kolkata off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, saying they represented the “original TMC.”
“This has been our office for years. The property’s owner said some TMC leaders did not honour the terms and conditions of the old lease. We have told him that we will use three floors of this building from now on,” Md Akhruzzaman, who was recognised by speaker Rathindra Nath Bose as the chief whip of the rebel faction in the legislative assembly, told reporters.
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Mantu Saha, the property owner, did not speak with the media.
Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the party office as a temporary party headquarters on May 3, 2022, although her residential address, 30B Harish Chatterjee Street in Kalighat, remained the party’s registered address. Since a new Trinamool Bhavan is being constructed off the EM Bypass, her loyalists vacated two floors of the rented property in June following a dispute with Saha.
On Friday, the rebel MLAs put up their banners, which had the TMC’s election symbol, the twin flower, outside the building, but did not remove the old one with Mamata Banerjee’s photograph. They didn’t disturb her photos in any rooms on the first, second, or third floors of the building either.
Instead, the rebels put up another banner which identified former minister Arup Roy as the TMC chairperson, a post held by Mamata Banerjee. Roy was elected as chairperson of the rebel faction on June 22.
Will Mamata’s photo be removed?
Asked if Mamata Banerjee’s photos would be removed, Akhruzzaman said that would be decided at a later stage. “She is with us. We have said she can be our advisor if she wants.”
Friday’s development came 24 hours after Ritabrata Banerjee, who has been designated as the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, and some other rebel lawmakers, met with the three Election Commission of India (ECI) members, including Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, in New Delhi.
The rebels staked a claim to the party’s name and election symbol, citing support from more than two-thirds of the 80 TMC legislators. ECI directed them to submit documents supporting their claim.
Ritabrata Banerjee didn’t address the media on Friday.
Firhad Hakim, who was the Kolkata mayor during the TMC regime and has shifted out of the Mamata camp, said, “I used to come to this office every day. This is the first time I have come here since the elections.”
Mamata Banerjee loyalists reached the building after the rebels left, but did not try to enter by breaking the lock.
Beliaghata MLA Kunal Ghosh said they will first evaluate the situation. “Although some of those who came here today rarely visited the office in the past, Hakim has been photographed with Mamata Banerjee more than any other TMC leader,” Ghosh said.
Rebel TMC leaders, claiming the support of around 58 of the party’s 80 MLAs, have declared themselves the real All India Trinamool Congress and approached ECI to stake a claim to the party’s name, assets, and election symbol.
On June 3, the 58 legislators were recognised by the speaker as the main Opposition party in the assembly. The unprecedented development in Bengal politics – in which many see reflections of the 2022 split in Maharashtra’s Shiv Sena – came 29 days after the BJP won 207 of Bengal’s 274 assembly seats.
Led by Ritabrata Banerjee, the dissidents have removed Mamata Banerjee as party chairperson, elected senior MLA Arup Roy in her place, formed a parallel 30-member National Working Committee, suspended Abhishek Banerjee, and displayed the party’s twin-flower symbol. Both factions have since filed competing National Working Committee (NWC) lists with ECI, each claiming legal control of the party’s name, assets, and symbol.
