After a split between its MLAs, the Trinamool Congress appeared headed for an implosion in Parliament, with a group of MPs claiming majority support deciding to ditch Mamata Banerjee and back the BJP-led NDA.
On a day when TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee were attending the INDIA bloc meeting in Delhi, Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who is at the forefront of the rebel faction, said they had decided to write to Speaker Om Birla declaring support for the NDA.
The crisis engulfing the TMC deepened on Monday with Ghosh Dastidar claiming that 20 MPs of the party have decided to write to the speaker.
Speaking to PTI over phone, Ghosh Dastidar said, "Nearly twenty TMC MPs, including me, have decided to write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and formally support the NDA."
Sources said the dissident MPs intend to argue before the speaker that Ghosh Dastidar continues to be the chief whip of the party in the Lok Sabha.
"We have accepted the people's verdict and believe that our future political course should be aligned with the NDA," Ghosh Dastidar said.
A TMC leader, however, said the party had communicated its decision to remove her as chief whip and appoint Kalyan Banerjee to the Lok Sabha Secretariat through an official letter dated May 20, signed by TMC Parliamentary Party Chairperson Mamata Banerjee.
A copy of the letter shared by party sources showed a stamp of receipt from the speaker's office dated May 29.
According to sources, the rebel MPs have chosen not to immediately resign from the TMC or join the BJP.
Instead, they intend to function as a separate bloc supporting the NDA, a strategy designed as a shield against the anti-defection law.
The arithmetic is politically significant.
The TMC currently has 28 Lok Sabha MPs, with one vacancy following the death of Basirhat MP Haji Nurul Islam.
The support of 20 MPs would comfortably cross the two-thirds threshold needed to thwart the invocation of the anti-defection law.
The TMC leader, however, reiterated that even securing that number would not automatically enable the rebel faction to function as a separate parliamentary group.
"As per the law, even if two-thirds of MPs wish to leave a party, the only choice they have is to merge with another political party. There is no provision for a separate group," the leader said.
A group of dissident MPs, meanwhile, held a meeting at BJP leader Bhupender Yadav's residence in Delhi, a source said.
A photograph purportedly from the meeting circulating online showed Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Shekhar Ray, along with MPs Abu Taher, Asit Mal, Arup Chakraborty, Kalipada Soren, Jagadish Basunia, Prasun Banerjee, Sharmila Sarkar, and Satabdi Roy.
Party sources also said around 20 MPs attended an informal gathering at an undisclosed location in the national capital late Sunday night.
According to sources familiar with the meeting, the MPs discussed possible courses of action and expressed their displeasure over the existing party's parliamentary leadership structure.
TMC MP Sougata Roy dismissed suggestions of an exodus.
"I have heard that some MPs held a separate meeting last night. Only they can say what transpired in the meeting. I was not contacted by them," he said.
Asked about reports of attempts by the BJP to reach out to TMC MPs, Roy said he had been contacted but declined the offer.
"I told them I will remain with the TMC. At this age, it won't be possible for me to change camp," the 78-year-old four-term MP told PTI.
Ray, who attended the meeting at Yadav's residence, resigned from the Rajya Sabha as well as the primary membership of the party and issued a statement accusing the TMC of "15-year anarchical rule" before the BJP came to power in the state.
His resignation from the Rajya Sabha has been accepted by RS Chairman C P Radhakrishnan.
"I have met the Rajya Sabha chairman and submitted my resignation. I have conveyed my decision to resign from the party through WhatsApp and email to Mamata Banerjee," Ray told reporters.
"I had my tenure till 2029 in the Rajya Sabha, but I have resigned in principle from the party as it would be difficult for me to continue," he said.
Rebel leader Ritabrata Banerjee, who now heads the breakaway faction in the West Bengal Assembly, described Ray's resignation as a sign of rising dissent in the party and claimed more parliamentarians could publicly distance themselves from the TMC in the coming days.
The development comes barely days after the TMC leadership suffered a setback in the West Bengal Assembly, where 58 of its 80 MLAs defied the party high command's decision to appoint veteran leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the leader of the Opposition and elected expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee to that post.
The political turbulence that has gripped the TMC since its electoral debacle has veritably softened party supremo Mamata Banerjee, who attended the INDIA bloc meeting here with a reconciliatory approach to chart a pan-India strategy against the BJP.
