KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress faction led by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suffered a setback on Tuesday as a division bench of the Calcutta High Court allowed rebel MLA Ritabrata Banerjee to continue as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly for now.
The division bench comprising Justices Shampa Sarkar and Ajay Kumar Gupta directed that Ritabrata would continue in the post until a single bench decides a petition challenging his appointment. The single bench has been asked to dispose of the matter within two months.
The order was passed while hearing an appeal filed by senior TMC MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who had challenged a single bench's refusal to grant interim relief against Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose's decision to appoint Ritabrata Banerjee as the LoP.
The single bench had on June 18 declined to pass an interim order on the Speaker's decision. Chattopadhyay subsequently approached the division bench challenging the order.
The latest ruling means Ritabrata can continue as LoP for the time being, while the single bench will decide whether his appointment can stand.
The dispute follows a major political upheaval within the TMC after the Bengal Assembly elections. The party won 80 of the 294 Assembly seats and emerged as the principal opposition party, while a group of around 60 rebel MLAs rallied behind Ritabrata, claiming to represent the "real Trinamool".
The Mamata Banerjee-led faction had backed Chattopadhyay for the post of LoP and wrote to the Speaker on May 9, five days after the Assembly election results were declared on May 4, seeking his appointment.
The Speaker, however, did not act on the proposal and subsequently recognised Banerjee as the LoP based on a proposal signed by the rebel MLAs supporting his candidature.
The TMC later expelled Ritabrata Banerjee for alleged anti-party activities.
Chattopadhyay subsequently moved the Calcutta High Court challenging the Speaker's decision to appoint Banerjee, who had by then been expelled from the party, as the Leader of the Opposition.
