Bengal politics witnessed another twist on Sunday when Uluberia Purba MLA Ritabrata Banerjee’s “real Trinamool” announced the suspension of Abhishek Banerjee, who was party’s second-in-command and removed Mamata Banerjee as chairperson of the party.
The move comes days after the Trinamool (those under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership) expelled Ritabrata Banerjee for alleged anti-party activities. In a reversal on Monday, the “real Trinamool” formed a new party committee and turned the tables by taking disciplinary action against Abhishek.
Ritabrata camp held a meeting at a hotel in New Town, which was attended by 60 MLAs and 70 councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
Arup Roy, MLA from Howrah Madhya, replaced Mamata Banerjee as the new chairperson of the party.
The rebel camp claimed the meeting was convened to address what it termed a "constitutional crisis" within the organisation.
Addressing the session, Ritabrata Banerjee argued that the party's constitution mandated the formation of a national working committee every three years and that the last such panel had been constituted in February 2022.
"The organisational structure was not renewed after the expiry of its tenure. Therefore, it became necessary to initiate the process of reconstituting the party's national leadership," a leader present at the meeting quoted Ritabrata Banerjee as saying.
With the latest development, the Trinamool Congress now stands divided into three camps — the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool, Ritabrata Banerjee’s “real TMC”, which is now opposition party in the Bengal Assembly, and about two dozen Lok Sabha MPs of the party, who have merged with a little known political outfit called the National Citizens Party and lend support to ruling NDA in the Parliament.
The latest suspension has only added to the confusion over who represents the party's true leadership and ideological core.
The rebel MPs have indicated that they will go to the Supreme Court to claim the party logo while confusion still remains on who gets the Rs 1,100 crore war chest.