India, June 10 -- Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar's 19-MP Gamble Against Mamata Banerjee. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar keeps returning to the same figure: nearly 20 MPs stand with her in open revolt against Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee. The number that actually decides the rebels' fate, however, is 19. On June 8, the four-time Barasat MP and former TMC chief whip led a dramatic breakaway in the Lok Sabha.

She claimed that 20 TMC MPs, including herself, had signed a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking recognition as a separate parliamentary bloc. The group declared it would extend support to the BJP-led NDA while remaining formally outside it, citing lawlessness, misgovernance and unemployment in West Bengal. Eighteen MPs signed phy...