Inside Rebel Faction's Strategy To Prove Itself "Real Trinamool"

Another day, another resignation.

The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool is having a tough summer.

Prakash Chik Baraik resigned as Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP, making him the third Rajya Sabha MP from the party to do so this week.

And this is only day four in the week.

Sushmita Dev, who had crossed over from the Congress in 2021, resigned as Rajya Sabha MP on Wednesday. On Monday, veteran Trinamool leader and Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Ray announced his resignation.

The Trinamool has 28 Lok Sabha and 13 Rajya Sabha MPs.

The rebels, around 20 Lok Sabha MPs, under the leadership of Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, have formed a separate parliamentary bloc, pledging support to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), sources said.

This development falls squarely under the purview of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, popularly known as the Anti-Defection Law.

Under its provisions, a split is recognised only when at least two-thirds of the Legislature Party supports the move.

In the current scenario, the threshold works out to 18.66 MPs, effectively meaning that 19 MPs would be required for a legally valid split without attracting disqualification.

The dissident bloc claims it has crossed the Constitutional benchmark. The number strengthens the bloc's position against any potential disqualification challenge, say sources.

If formalised, this bloc would not directly merge with the BJP but rather it would be a separate Parliamentary group supporting the NDA's legislative agenda.

The rebel faction, say BJP sources, will claim to be the "real" Trinamool Congress. Based on this claim, they will seek recognition as the genuine party from the Speakers of the Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha.

A similar petition will be filed with the Election Commission to stake a claim over Trinamool's election symbol.

The split within the Trinamool will be executed on legal grounds, say sources.

It will be argued, say sources, that the Trinamool is not functioning in accordance with its own constitution, pointing out that several decisions were allegedly taken in violation of the party constitution.

Letters will be written detailing how Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee were making decisions arbitrarily, the sources added.

According to sources, the process of splitting the Trinamool will follow the precedents set in the cases of Shiv Sena, NCP, and LJP.

The Election Commission had delivered verdicts in all three of those cases.

Under the anti-defection law, a merger with another party requires the separation of two-thirds of the members.

However, the "real party" formula does not necessitate a merger.

No merger would be required in this scenario, as the rebel faction itself would likely gain recognition .

The rebel faction would assert that it is the genuine party.

This differs from the case involving Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MPs.

In that instance, seven out of ten MPs, constituting two-thirds of the group, broke away to join the BJP.

Consequently, their memberships remained intact.

Similarly, if the rebel faction claims to be the real party and secures recognition, the memberships of the rebel Trinamool MPs would be preserved.

A prolonged legal battle over control of the Trinamool could ensue.