KOLKATA: In a dramatic development on Monday, the rebel ‘real Trinamool’ camp led by Ritabrata Banerjee, Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, removed former chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee as party chairperson, and Abhishek Banerjee, MP from Diamond Harbour, as national general secretary of the party in the state.
According to sources from the rebel camp, Ritabrata Banerjee held a meeting at a hotel in New Town, where around 60 MLAs and 70 councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation were present and supported the decisions.
Addressing the gathering, Ritabrata Banerjee claimed the party was facing a "constitutional crisis", arguing that Article 20 of the TMC constitution required the formation of a national working committee every three years.
According to the rebel camp, the last national working committee was constituted on February 12, 2022, and its tenure expired on February 11 this year.
Since no fresh committee was formed thereafter, the faction argued it became necessary to reconstitute the party's organisational structure.
The meeting first approved a 10-member national working committee comprising Arup Roy, Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Biplab Mitra, Akhruzzaman Ansari, Sabina Yasmin, Sandipan Saha, Rathin Ghosh, Javed Khan and Ritabrata Banerjee, before expanding it into a 30-member body.
Arup Roy, the veteran MLA from Howrah Central, was then elected chairperson by voice vote.
"The special session of TMC leaders and members unanimously elected Arup Roy as party chairperson," Banerjee told reporters after the meeting.
Former minister Biswas and MLAs Hakim, Ghosh and Yasmin were appointed vice-chairpersons.
Ritabrata Banerjee, Khan and Saha were named general secretaries, while Akhruzzaman Ansari was appointed treasurer.
Seeking to bolster the legitimacy of the exercise, Banerjee asserted that the proceedings had been conducted in accordance with the party constitution and would be communicated to the Election Commission.
"It is not about what is real or not real. We are TMC and will inform the Election Commission about today's special session proceedings," he said.
"We have functioned and convened this special session as per the norms. It is for the Election Commission to decide what is wrong or right," he said.
The LoP said the newly constituted leadership would soon move to establish organisational units at various levels.
"We will soon constitute the district committees, the state unit and a panel of spokespersons," he said. Banerjee, however, struck a conciliatory note towards Mamata Banerjee.
"If Mamata Banerjee wants to be chief advisor, she is most welcome," he said.
Reacting to questions about Abhishek Banerjee, Ritabrata Banerjee said, “Who is Abhishek? The man, who was heckled by people? Nothing was discussed about him in today’s meeting.”
The rebel MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar have indicated plans to approach the Supreme Court to claim the party symbol, while uncertainty remains over control of party assets.
Hours after the development, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress issued show-cause notices to the dissident MLAs who attended the meeting.
The dissident group’s move comes after tensions within the party, with the Trinamool Congress earlier expelling Ritabrata Banerjee, MLA from Uluberia Purba, and Sandipan Saha, MLA from Entally, for anti-party activities.
Both leaders had alleged irregularities in the party’s internal resolution process and claimed that signatures of several MLAs were forged in connection with the election of Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as Leader of Opposition.
(With inputs from PTI)
