As Mamata Banerjee prepares to seek succour from INDIA allies at Monday’s meeting for continued political relevance, several of her MPs seem to have decided to ditch her, choosing the “(Ritabrata) Banerjee model” of personal survival over the Trinamool matriarch’s emotional entreaties.

Mamata had advanced her Delhi flight, leaving behind a collapsing apparatus in Calcutta — where most of her MLAs have deserted her and a meeting of councillors had to be aborted on Sunday — to try and stanch the bleeding in the national capital.

But by the time she began her last-ditch efforts in Delhi to get hold of some of her fleeing MPs and plead with them to stay, at least 20 of her 28 Lok Sabha lieutenants had finalised a blueprint that mimics the Assembly split.

Multiple sources in the rebel camp in Calcutta and Delhi confirmed to this newspaper that the breakaway group had secured a chunk of the Lok Sabha flock large enough to beat the anti-defection law.

“This includes almost the entire contingent from entertainment, sports, media.… Several of these cultural imports are now vacationing abroad,” a rebel camp senior told The Telegraph.

“In the Rajya Sabha, at least four of the party’s 13 representatives have crossed over, with more expected to follow.”

A key member of the Ritabrata-led Assembly mutiny, who is in touch with several rebel MPs, said: “At least 24 of the 41 MPs (across both Houses) have already abandoned Pishi-Bhaipo. The number could cross 30 in the next few days.”

He added: “Some of the names will shock everyone.”

A section of MPs still considered to be loyal to the Mamata camp dismissed the numbers as “exaggerated”.

“At best one, at worst two Rajya Sabha MPs may be with the rebel group now. Where are they getting the others from?” the MP told The Telegraph, requesting anonymity.

KMC jolt

Earlier in the afternoon, Mamata had to call off a crisis-management meeting with her Calcutta councillors at the eleventh hour to avoid a public spectacle of empty chairs after scores of them said they wouldn’t come. Days ago, an aborted MLAs’ meeting had heralded the Assembly defections.

Trinamool still has 136 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s 144 councillors, on paper at least.

Some of the councillors told this newspaper they were unwilling to turn up and expose themselves to the risk of arrest. Seven city Trinamool councillors had been arrested between the May 4 Assembly poll results and Sunday evening.

Several councillors said they were upset that the party did not stand by those arrested. To the party, they said Sunday was a holiday and not a good day to have a meeting, a source revealed.

‘Too late’

At least 20 Trinamool Lok Sabha members are expected to walk into Speaker Om
Birla’s chamber early this week and formally seek recognition as the “real” Trinamool parliamentary party in the House, whose floor leader happens to be their bete noire Abhishek Banerjee.

Veteran Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, one of those with nothing left to fear or gain politically, suggested it was too late to stem the rot.

“The process of raising embankments to stop erosion, or taking preventive measures to keep a fire from breaking out, must be put in place before disaster strikes,”
he said.

“Once the fire has broken out or the erosion has begun, there’s nothing to do other than sit and watch while complete ruin takes place. It’s all over now,” Ray said.

Multiple rebel sources said an MP whom Mamata had repeatedly gone out of her way to protect had bypassed Kalighat entirely after the May 4 results and initiated contact with the BJP brass through an influential chief minister.

A prominent south Bengal Lok Sabha member whom Mamata had trusted blindly kept all his known phone numbers switched off while hiding in a northern, mountainous state. He used a single, secret number, exclusively for communicating with the rebel bloc.

When Mamata finally managed to reach him using the personal phone of a “loyalist” Rajya Sabha member (also allegedly looking for a life raft), the MP took the call.

The moment her voice came over the line, he complained of a “poor network” and disconnected the call, threw out the SIM card and issued a fresh number hours later to the rebel managers.

Three Trinamool MPs — two from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha — are believed to have clandestinely tried an alternative survival strategy, approaching Rahul Gandhi and pleading to be taken into the Congress.

Met with absolute coldness from Rahul, they too eventually sought refuge in the “Banerjee model”.

Two other lawmakers, both with a saffron past, tried to negotiate a return to their old party but were told to remain within the rebel bloc for now.

Junior Union minister Sukanta Majumdar said scornfully that Mamata’s failure to read the signs was astonishing and that Trinamool’s implosion had required no outside help.