The battle for control of the Trinamool Congress's legislative wing is set to move to the courts, with the party deciding to challenge the West Bengal Assembly Speaker's recognition of rebel leader Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition.
The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday evening, where senior leaders reviewed the fallout of a rebellion by a section of the party's MLAs that has plunged the organisation into its deepest crisis since its formation.
Party MP Kalyan Banerjee said the TMC would approach the Calcutta High Court on Monday, arguing that the Speaker's decision violated established parliamentary procedures.
"We have decided to move court against the decision of the Speaker. We think the decision is against established norms and parliamentary procedures. Rules have been violated," Kalyan Banerjee told reporters after the meeting.
The legal challenge comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented split within the TMC. On June 3, the party suffered the first formal division in its 28-year history when 58 rebel MLAs broke ranks, elected expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition, wrested control of the legislature party and secured recognition from Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose.
The development marked the most serious challenge yet to Mamata Banerjee's authority and plunged the party into its gravest internal crisis since its inception.
Ritabrata Banerjee, however, dismissed the TMC's allegations and insisted that his faction had complied with all constitutional and procedural requirements.
"All norms have been followed. Today, there was a meeting convened by Mamata Banerjee. Please go and see how many legislators attended that meeting," he told reporters, claiming that the majority of elected representatives remained with the rebel camp.
The TMC quickly rejected that assertion. In a statement, the party's media cell clarified that the gathering at Mamata Banerjee's residence was not intended to be a meeting of all MLAs and MPs but a session of the party's National Working Committee.
"It was a National Working Committee meeting and not a meeting of all MLAs or MPs. Several members, including MPs Mahua Moitra and Sushmita Dev, as well as senior leaders Mukul Sangma and Rajesh Tripathi, attended virtually," the statement said.
The party argued that attendance at the meeting could not be used as a measure of legislative support and dismissed the dissident camp's attempt to portray it as evidence of shifting loyalties within the organisation.
Meanwhile, the rebel camp has moved swiftly to establish an alternative leadership structure within the legislature party. Along with installing Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition, it named Akhruzzaman as chief whip and appointed senior legislators Javed Ahmed Khan, Sandipan Saha, Sabina Yasmin and Shiuli Saha as deputy leaders.
The scale of the rebellion has been underscored by the participation of several veteran TMC legislators, including Samar Mukhopadhyay, Arup Roy, Rathin Ghosh, Javed Khan and Prasun Banerjee, whose defection has highlighted the depth of dissatisfaction within the party ranks.
The roots of the current confrontation lie in a dispute over the selection of the Leader of the Opposition following the assembly elections. The controversy erupted after a proposal sent to Speaker Rathindra Bose seeking recognition of senior TMC MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay for the post allegedly contained forged signatures of several legislators.
The allegations led to the registration of an FIR and triggered a CID investigation, transforming what initially appeared to be a procedural dispute into a full-scale political confrontation.
What began as a disagreement over the opposition leadership soon escalated into a struggle for control of the TMC legislature party and has now evolved into the most significant challenge to Mamata Banerjee's leadership since she founded the party in 1998.
The outcome of the impending court battle is likely to have implications far beyond the question of who occupies the opposition benches in the Assembly. It could determine the legitimacy of rival claims to the TMC's legislative wing and shape the future direction of a party confronting the most serious internal upheaval in its history.
(With inputs from PTI)
