- 19 Trinamool MPs' have reportedly written to Speaker saying they wish to join the NDA in Parliament
- Trinamool MP Pratima Mandal denied being part of the rebel group and refuted claims
- Mandal confirmed she was approached but refused to join due to disagreement with plans
Are there now cracks within the Trinamool "rebel" camp? A letter reportedly with signatures of 19 Trinamool Congress MPs has been submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla stating that the group wants to distance itself from the party and wishes to align with the ruling NDA in Parliament.
But Trinamool Congress MP Pratima Mandal, whose name was reportedly in the list of the defecting MPs submitted by the camp led Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, has denied being part of the group. Calling the reports of her being in the rebel camp "completely false", Mandal said that she is in Kolkata and has not met anyone in Delhi.
"This news is completely false. I am right here in Kolkata. I had an 'Estimates Committee' meeting on June 4 in Delhi and returned to Kolkata the same day. I haven't even been to Delhi since that day," Mandal stated.
The Jaynagar MP also dared the "rebels" to publicly release the purported letter with signatures of MPs for everyone to see instead of "spreading false news". "To those spreading this false news, I ask, why don't you release the letter bearing everyone's signatures? Why don't you show the document so people can see whether my name is on it or not?"
Mandal, however, confirmed that she was approached by the rebel camp to join them, but insisted that she refused as she "did not like their plan".
She said that she herself wanted a meeting of MPs to discuss the party matters after the MLAs revolt but revealed that the group asked her to come to Delhi instead.
"I myself called many MPs asking them to sit for a meeting in Kolkata. But they told me to come to Delhi. I refused."
The MP further added that she was not given any details of the "rebels" plans and whatever she discussed with some of them, she didn't find the plan of action "appropriate".
Mandal though agreed that there were problems with the Trinamool which led to the party's defeat. "There were definitely mistakes. That is why the people did not bless the TMC, and we did not come to power."
The Trinamool's organisational crisis became public earlier this week when a rebellion that had first fractured its ranks in the Bengal Assembly spread to parliament.
The parliamentary rupture came days after 58 Trinamool MLAs, a figure the rebel camp now claims has climbed to 64, defied the party leadership and backed expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition instead of the party's official nominee, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.
The twin rebellions have plunged Mamata Banerjee's party into arguably the gravest crisis since its formation in 1998, transforming what began as internal dissent into a battle over legislative strength, parliamentary numbers, organisational control and political legitimacy.
The split has steadily widened from the Assembly to parliament, with three Rajya Sabha members - Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik - resigning from both the Upper House and the party.
