TMC feud reaches SC as Mamata camp seeks disqualification of 10 MLAs

The factional battle within the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has reached the Supreme Court, with the Mamata Banerjee-led ‘Kalighat camp’ seeking the disqualification of 10 MLAs aligned with the 'rebel' Ritabrata Banerjee faction.

Senior TMC MP and lawyer Kalyan Banerjee said on Monday, 14 September that a special leave petition (SLP) had been filed in the Supreme Court by veteran MLA Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, who is aligned with the Kalighat camp. The petition challenges the West Bengal Assembly speaker’s alleged failure to decide on the MLAs under the anti-defection law. Kalyan Banerjee said the move followed a similar legal route adopted in disqualification proceedings involving MPs.

In this context, it is important to note that the speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly took no decision on the defection of Shiv Sena MLAs between 2022 and 2024. The case has never been settled, neither is there a law that lays down a timeframe for speakers to take such a decision. 

The latest legal move comes amid a wider political crisis within the TMC, with the status of 20 rebel Lok Sabha MPs who announced their merger with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) remaining unsettled.

The 20 MPs, who were among the TMC’s 27 Lok Sabha members, announced on 14 June that they had merged with the NCPI and extended support to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. They subsequently sought recognition as a separate parliamentary group, maintaining that their move constituted a valid merger under the anti-defection law. Lok Sabha records, however, continue to list them as TMC members.

The parliamentary dispute returned to the spotlight on Monday after rebel TMC MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia claimed that 17 of the 20 MPs would soon join the BJP. He said the group had finalised its plans and that, since more than two-thirds of the bloc would be switching parties, it would remain outside the ambit of the anti-defection law.

The claim was quickly contradicted by other rebel MPs. Abu Taher Khan, one of the three Muslim MPs in the group, rejected any suggestion that they would join the BJP, while Satabdi Roy said no such decision had been taken and that Basunia had spoken in his personal capacity.

Basunia too later described his remarks as his “personal opinion”. He had claimed that the three Muslim MPs would remain with the NCPI and support the NDA from outside, but Khan rejected that proposition as well, saying the three would not attend BJP or NDA meetings.

Basunia also claimed that the rebels had initially planned to join the BJP directly but moved to the NCPI after the three Muslim MPs were unwilling to cross over. He alleged that BJP leaders had advised them to join the NCPI to avoid falling foul of the anti-defection law.

The BJP, however, distanced itself from the claim. West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said he was not aware of any such move and insisted that the party would not induct people merely because they wanted to join.

The developments have exposed divisions within the rebel bloc and uncertainty over its future political platform. They have also highlighted the BJP’s reluctance to be seen as simply absorbing former TMC leaders, despite the rebels’ support for the NDA at the Centre.

Against this backdrop, Ritabrata Banerjee, who heads the breakaway group claiming to represent the ‘real’ TMC, is the first name on the list of 10 MLAs targeted by the Kalighat camp. The other nine are Arup Roy, Firhad Hakim, Sandipan Saha, Akruzzaman, Shiuli Saha, Sabina Yasmin, Biplab Mitra, Javed Khan and Rathin Ghosh.

Kalyan Banerjee, however, said the Kalighat camp was not seeking immediate action against every MLA associated with the rival faction. “Initially, the names of these 10 individuals have been submitted. We want to give the others some time and ‘oxygen’,” he said.

He added that the door remained open for those willing to return to Mamata Banerjee’s camp. “If they realise their mistake and wish to return to Kalighat, the door remains open. If they do not return, their entire political career will be ruined,” he said.

The legal move comes amid a wider dispute over the TMC’s organisational identity, name and election symbol.

Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said the Mamata Banerjee-led faction had little doubt about the outcome. “We are the ones who will get the symbol. Mamata Banerjee has been the chairperson since the party’s inception. We are the ones who submitted the documents,” he said.

With PTI inputs