The TMC on Monday expelled its MLAs Sandipan Saha and Ritabrata Banerjee, accusing them of engaging in anti-party activities.
The expulsion order came minutes after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari told a press conference at the state secretariat that the two legislators had filed complaints in connection with the 'fake signature' case in the state assembly, where the TMC endorsed Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition.
"It has been brought to the notice of the All India Trinamool Congress through its competent authority that, despite having been elected as a candidate nominated by the AITC, you have repeatedly failed to attend meetings convened by the authorised leadership of the party and have made yourself involved in anti-party activities," a communication addressed to the two MLAs said.
"It has also been observed that you have engaged in activities and made statements that are prejudicial to the interests of AITC," the communication, signed by the party vice-president, Chandrima Bhattacharya, added.
After due consideration of the matter, the "competent authority of the AITC has decided to expel you from the (primary) membership of the party with immediate effect", the communication stated.
"Consequently, you shall cease to hold any position, responsibility, or privilege associated with the party from the date of issuance of this notice," the notice added.
Minutes before the expulsion notice, Adhikari tore into the TMC camp alleging the "party is yet to get past its fraudulent practices despite being rejected by the people of the state".
Adhikari said it was at the behest of complaints lodged by the two TMC legislators -- Ritabrata Banerjee, who won the Uluberia Purba seat from Howrah, and Sandipan Saha, the MLA from Entally in central Kolkata -- that a case of forged signature from the TMC legislative party endorsing Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as LoP was lodged by the Assembly secretariat at the Hare Street police station.
"This inquiry wasn't initiated by the BJP. It was a follow-up to the complaint lodged before the Speaker on May 27 by the two TMC MLAs, who alleged that no resolution regarding the selection of LoP was passed at their party's meeting held on May 6. They complained that their party's endorsement letter signed by 70 MLAs, of which 14 signatures were made in block letters, was manufactured and fabricated," the CM said.
Adhikari said the probe was handed over to the state CID on directions of the home secretary at his own approval, following which the agency questioned 13 TMC MLAs in the presence of handwriting experts and videographers.
"At least three TMC MLAs -- Baharul Islam, Arup Roy and Subhasis Das -- have told investigators that the signatures do not belong to them. Of them, it has been found, Islam was not even present at the venue of the said TMC meeting," Adhikari said.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, however, alleged that bypassing the party leadership to approach the Assembly Speaker amounts to a "betrayal" of the mandate received in the name of former chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Defending the party's decision to expel two MLAs for alleged anti-party activities, Ghosh "thanked" Adhikari for publicly naming the MLAs who had complained to the Speaker, saying it had justified the party's expulsion call.
Ghosh maintained legislators who had grievances regarding the alleged "fake signature" controversy should have first brought the matter to the notice of the party leadership instead of writing to the Speaker.
"If anyone felt there was an error, they should have informed the leader first. The leader (Mamata Banerjee) was not present during the signature collection," he said.
"We did not win as independent candidates. We came to the assembly on the TMC symbol, using Mamata Banerjee's image and receiving the votes of those who supported her. If the party is so bad, then why did they contest on a TMC ticket and sought votes in Mamata Banerjee's name?" he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
