New Delhi, June 9 -- Mounting a scathing attack on the dissidents of Trinamool Congress, party MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Kirti Azad on Tuesday questioned their political morality, saying they are siding with the ruling BJP while retaining their identity as members of the party.
Addressing a press conference here, the two senior TMC MPs questioned whether the alleged resignation letter was actually there. "If you have a difference with the party, then you can resign from the party. But what letter do we know? I wonder whether that letter is there because I have yet to see it anywhere. Why did that letter not get published if it was honest? Even now, nobody knows who signed that letter," said Kalyan Banerjee. According to Banerjee, such a letter was never submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker when his office was still open, adding, "If they were serious, they would have made it public. What is written there?"
Referring to those MPs who met Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav, Banerjee accused them of becoming members of the BJP. "These MPs who have signed the document have attended a meeting with Bhupendra Yadav at his residence. This proves that they have become members of the BJP. The people know everything. Now onwards, it has to be understood that Narendra Modi is their leader and not Mamata Banerjee."
Raising doubts over their political tactic, the Lok Sabha member stated that the rebel MPs could have formally merged with another political party if they had the numbers according to the Tenth Schedule.
"They claim that they have 21, 22, or even 23 Members of Parliament with them. Then, according to the Tenth Schedule, they should merge. They have the numbers, so why are they not merging? Are they scared of the BJP or scared of going back to their constituencies and meeting their people?" he questioned.
The two leaders also challenged the dissidents to go back to their constituencies and explain their stance to the voters there.
Through her revolt within the Trinamool Congress, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar keeps referring to "nearly 20 MPs'' being with her, against party founder Mamata Banerjee. The figure that really matters, though, is 19. It decides whether the rebels can switch sides and still keep their Lok Sabha seats, or lose them. And it echoes a move along the same lines made recently by AAP's Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha.
The anti-defection law, set out in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, has the aim to stop elected members from jumping parties for power or money, or mainly switch loyalties when voters have elected them on a certain party's symbol. The basic rule is that if one is elected on a party's symbol and then one leaves that party or votes against its instructions (a 'whip', in parliamentary terms), one can be disqualified.
If at least two-thirds of a party's legislators agree to merge with another party, they are protected, says a provision. There used to be an easier escape hatch for such a "split", that is, if just one-third broke away. Parliament scrapped that in 2003, and today only one exception survives, a "merger" of two-thirds.
TMC's Krishnanagar Lok Sabha member Mohua Moitra said in a post on X : "Even if traitors get 19 MPs (2/3) which they have not - only option is to merge with BJP along with 2/3 of political party. Bhupinder Yadav and @loksabhaspeaker cannot create separate political party or faction. 5 judge bench in Subhash Desai vs Principal Secretary, Governor of Maharashtra (2023), settled this.''
As things stand on Tuesday, the numbers appear to be in dispute. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar insists "nearly 20 TMC MPs, including me, have decided to support the NDA".
Mamata Banerjee's loyalists claim that figure is a stretch. Bardhaman-Durgapur MP Kirti Azad called it "the fake and fabricated narrative of the dirty tricks department of BJP," saying only 13 MPs - 12 from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha - attended the rebel meeting, and "no one else has signed on the dotted line apart from these".
Dum Dum MP Saugata Roy, who says he turned down an offer to switch, predicted the rebels would find it "very difficult" to reach two-thirds.
Criticising several leaders who joined the party after 2011, Kalyan Banerjee said they had not participated in the party's struggles and had benefited from its electoral strength.
"Besides Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, everybody joined the party after 2011. Nobody has fought for the party. Film actors believe that since crowds will assemble around them, the entire Parliament will fall in line. Without Kesto, Satabdi Roy would never have been able to win," he alleged.
On the other hand, sources said that the dissident camp had managed to get the support of just 15 MPs on their side until Monday.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.