Floor Test In West Bengal? Rebel TMC MPs & MLAs Submit Signed List To Speaker As Party Crisis Deepens

Kolkata: Ritabrata Banerjee, Leader of the Opposition of West Bengal Legislative Assembly, has hinted that the Speaker can order a floor test in the House to confirm the strength of leaders within the rebel bloc of Trinamool Congress (TMC). 

Ritabrata stated that rebel TMC MLAs have submitted the list of leaders in their bloc to Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose. This comes after rebel TMC MPs submitted their list to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Reiterating that there are 64 MLAs in the rebel TMC bloc, Ritabrata said, "If the Speaker feels it is necessary, he can order a floor test. We will prove our strength in how many MLAs are with us."

There are a total of 80 TMC MLAs in the Assembly and as per the rebel camp's claim, they have the support of more than two-third leaders of the party's legislative strength.

Who Are The Rebel MPs?

Sources have claimed that 19 out of 20 Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs who are part of the reported breakaway group had submitted their names to the Lok Sabha Speaker's Office.

Rebel TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar confirmed that a group of 20 MPs has formally sought separate seating arrangements in the Lok Sabha, signalling an organisational split within the party's parliamentary ranks.

This move comes amid growing internal tensions within the TMC following the party's underwhelming performance in the recent West Bengal Assembly elections, which has reportedly led to a widening rift between the party veterans and the central leadership headed by Mamata Banerjee.

The names of the 19 MPs, as accessed by sources, are:

1. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar
2. Satabdi Roy
3. Bapi Haldar
4. Dr. Sharmila Sarkar
5. Prasun Bandyopadhyay
6. Jagadish Barma Basunia
7. Asit Kumar Mal
8. Arup Chakraborty
9. Rachna Banerjee
10. Saayoni Ghosh
11. Khalilur Rahaman
12. Abu Taher Khan
13. Yusuf Pathan
14. Mitali Bag
15. Mala Roy
16. Kalipada Soren
17. Deepak Adhikari
18. June Malia
19. Partha Bhowmick

Sources, however, did not disclose the identity of the 20th MP, whose name is reportedly absent from the list shared with the Speaker's Office.

Rebellion Of Rajya Sabha MPs

Dissent is also visible among TMC's Rajya Sabha MPs. In a major jolt to TMC, prominent leader and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Sushmita Dev resigned from her parliamentary seat and all party positions on Wednesday.

Her sudden departure deals another massive blow to party supremo Mamata Banerjee, coming less than twenty-four hours after veteran leader Sukhendu Sekhar Ray quit the party and resigned from his upper house seat.

In his resignation letter to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Sukhendu said that the people of Bengal had “rejected the party's rampant corruption, extreme oppression of women, and its utter failure and the severe anarchy prevailing across sectors, including education, healthcare, industry, employment, and law and order.”

Praising the BJP, Sukhendu further wrote: “The voters have, for the first time in Bengal’s history, given the Bharatiya Janata Party a massive victory in terms of seats. The newly elected government has already begun working to implement multiple programmes for Bengal’s overall development and reconstruction, in line with its election promises.”

The internal crisis within the TMC comes following its landslide defeat in the state Assembly elections, where it won just 80 out of 294 seats and lost power after ruling over West Bengal for 15 years.