Trinamool Congress's rebel bloc on Thursday scored a key victory in its battle against Mamata Banerjee for the control of the legislature party as Calcutta High Court refused to grant an interim stay on the appointment of Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
Justice Krishna Rao declined to interfere with Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose decision for now, effectively insulating the Ritabrata-led rebel faction and its alleged backers on the Treasury benches from an immediate setback.
Mamata's camp had recommended Ballygunge MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the leader of the Opposition.
Claiming support of 65 MLAs, Ritabrata expressed his satisfaction with the high court development and reiterated that he led the "ashol (real)" Trinamool in the state legislature. "They are welcome to take a floor test, whoever doubts our numbers," he said.
Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh, still a Mamata loyalist, said: “Those who stab the party in the back through unethical means cannot be accepted as a leader by us."
Sreerampur MP and lawyer Kalyan Banerjee, representing Chattopadhyay, challenged the Speaker's order in court, arguing that a legislature party cannot exist independently of its parent political organisation. Relying on Supreme Court rulings, Kalyan submitted that some rebel MLAs cannot unilaterally override the core party leadership directed by the former chief minister.
The defense countered by leveraging raw floor numbers and a crucial lower-court shield. Additional advocate-general Billwadal Bhattacharyya, appearing for the Speaker, argued that the first list submitted by the high command lacked organisational minutes and verified signatures. In contrast, 58 of the 80 elected Trinamool MLAs physically paraded before the Speaker to back Ritabrata, forcing Bose to honour the numerical majority.
Ritabrata’s counsel, senior advocate Jaydip Kar, said a civil court in Alipore had already stayed the operation of Trinamool's June 1 expulsion notice (for the Uluberia Purba MLA and his associate, Entally MLA Sandipan Saha) until June 30. With the expulsion temporarily frozen, Kar argued that Ritabrata remained a legitimate member of the legislature party, free from any immediate threat under the anti-defection law.
Justice Rao noted: "This court did not find any prima facie case and balance of convenience and inconvenience in favour of the petitioner for grant of interim order as prayed for by the petitioner, accordingly, interim order is refused."
"The respondents are directed to file affidavit-in-opposition within a period of three weeks, reply, if any, within two weeks thereafter," he added, instructing that the matter be listed for July 28.
Entally MLA Saha, one of the four deputy leaders of the Opposition, said: "It is our moral victory."
"The fight that Ritabrata and I started against the irregularities was awarded a moral victory. The work we have done is in full compliance with the law. The number of supporting MLAs is steadily increasing. Those who are coming forward to support us are writing letters and we are giving them to the Speaker," he added.
"We will move forward with the purpose for which we created this bloc."
Mamata loyalists
Six Trinamool MLAs who are loyal to Mamata on Thursday met chief minister Suvendu Adhikari and secured a separate room and dedicated speaking time in the Assembly.
Beleghata MLA Ghosh and Ballygunge MLA Chattopadhyay led the group which met Suvendu.
Chattopadhyay later said the meeting was positive and that their concerns were addressed.
“We raised some specific issues. The chief minister accorded us due respect. There was a detailed discussion on our seating arrangements, a separate room and security-related matters,” said Chattopadhyay.
Suvendu purportedly asked parliamentary affairs minister Shankar Ghosh to immediately assign a separate room for MLAs loyal to Mamata, and to ensure they were allotted independent time in the House.