TMC huddle at Mamata Banerjee’s residence: 8 of 80 MLAs turn up amid party split concerns

NEW DELHI: Amid concerns of internal rift in the Trinamool Congress (TMC), only 8 of 80 MLAs and 6 MPs attended the meeting at Mamata Banerjee’s residence on Friday, ANI reported.Among those present at the residence were MLAs Bina Mondal, Ashima Patra, Madan Mitra, Kunal Ghosh, Firhad Hakim, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Biman Banerjee and Ashok Kumar Deb. The MPs who attended included Dola Sen, Mala Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O’Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay. “We have decided that the LoP appointed by the Speaker is illegal. We are approaching the Court against this on Monday. We will file a petition before the High Court,” ANi quoted Kalyan Banerjee saying after the meet. “We will fight against the manner in which the BJP is killing TMC workers and lodging false cases against them. We will fight on the streets, we will fight in Court,” Banerjee added.Moreover, Mamata announced a major organisational reshuffle in the TMC as the party faces internal rebellion. The new leadership team features several veteran leaders and loyalists.Abhishek Banerjee retained his position as national general secretary, while Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen were appointed national joint secretaries. Senior minister Chandrima Bhattacharya replaced Subrata Bakshi as the party’s state president.The shake-up comes days after the TMC dissolved all its committees and frontal organisations across West Bengal.The TMC meeting took place against a backdrop of growing political unrest within the party, triggered by claims from a group of rebel MLAs, including expelled leaders Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha. The dissidents have asserted that they enjoy the support of 58 legislators in the West Bengal assembly and have opposed the party leadership’s decision to appoint Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition (LoP).