'No One Can Carve Out A Parallel Faction, There Is Only One TMC': Abhishek Banerjee Writes To Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee has written a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, stressing that TMC is a "single, indivisible political party" and no member or set of members can carve out a parallel group or faction of the same party and claim independent recognition within the House.

This comes shortly before rebel TMC MPs met Om Birla. Abhishek Banerjee's letter to the Speaker was a direct hit at the rebel leaders who are seeking recognition of their faction as a separate parliamentary group within the TMC.

“My attention has been drawn to news reports to the effect that certain members of the Lok Sabha belonging to the AITC have submitted, or propose to submit, a communication to your good office seeking to be recognised as a separate group or faction of the AITC, independent of the legislative party,” Banerjee wrote, requesting Birla to not accord the recognition sought by the group.

'TMC Is A Single Party'

Abhishek Banerjee further stressed that TMC is a single, indivisible political party, adding, "The legislative party in the Lok Sabha derives its very existence from, and remains an emanation of, the political party. There is in law only one AITC, one Leader of the Party in the House, and one Whip, all of whom hold office by authority of the political party and its competent organisational authority. No member or set of members can, by their own volition, carve out a parallel "group" or "faction" of the same party and claim independent recognition within the House."

‘Speaker Does Not Recognise Rival Factions’

He further stated that the law does not recognise the splintering of a political party into competing groups as a permissible event; it treats such conduct, instead, through the lens of disqualification.

The Speaker recognises the political party, not rival factions. He added that where two or more factions claim to be the political party, the Speaker is to determine, prima facie, who the political party is for the purpose of adjudicating disqualification petitions under Paragraph 2(1) of the Tenth Schedule.

“The framework thus contemplates ascertainment of the one true political party not the conferral of independent recognition upon a faction,” he further wrote.

The development comes amidst growing internal rift within the party 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.

After the defeat, several TMC leaders rebelled against the party leadership and formed a rival camp.