"No Trinamool Without Mamata Banerjee": Sagarika Ghose To NDTV

The Trinamool Congress is confronting one of its most severe internal crises in recent years, marked by a series of resignations from senior figures and an open rebellion within its ranks. The recent Assembly elections defeat has raised questions over the party's future. 

Trinamool's Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose, speaking with NDTV, said despite open rebellion, "there is no Trinamool Congress without Mamata Banerjee." 

Ghose described the departure of Sushmita Dev, who quit the party and the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, as "unfortunate". Ghose said Dev's move was a personal decision concerning her own political future.

"There is no Trinamul Congress without Mamata Banerjee. And those who have chosen to leave, who have chosen to desert Mamata Banerjee, would they have chosen if she had won the election? Therefore, I would say that at this moment in time, where Mamata Banerjee is, that is where the Trinamul Congress is," Ghose told NDTV. 

Ghose criticised the BJP for allegedly weaponising central agencies and police, adding that such developments should not be normalised and described them as an overthrow of constitutional democracy. 

"To have a democracy where agencies and the power of a coercive state are weaponised to pressurise, to put all kinds of inducements before opposition members, to threaten them with arrests, threaten them with cases, threaten them with false charges. This is the kind of politics the BJP is playing. And we have to not normalise, we can't normalise this behaviour of the BJP. This is an overthrow of constitutional democracy. What the BJP is doing at the moment is destroying democracy and destroying constitutional democracy," she alleged. 

When pressed on why the exodus appeared more pronounced in the Trinamool than in parties such as the DMK, CPM in Kerala, RJD, or NCP, Ghose replied: "First of all, the BJP is in power in Bengal. The BJP is not in power in Tamil Nadu or in Kerala. So the BJP does not have that kind of stake in the system as it does in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The BJP is in power in Bengal and is using the coercive powers of the state against members of parliament, against MLAs."

She added that while people could choose to leave, it raised questions of principle. 

"If people choose to leave, if they want to leave, then that, of course, is their choice. I would say that this shows a certain moral and ethical deficit that you have one on a particular symbol, you have one with a particular leader's face on your posters, you have one under a particular flag. And now when that party is defeated, when that particular flag is defeated or that particular leader is defeated, you choose to abandon the party. Is this ethical? Is it moral? I don't think so," she added. 

Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for nearly 90 minutes on Wednesday to discuss INDIA bloc matters, preparations for a proposed meeting in Hyderabad, and closer cooperation. 

This followed Mamata Banerjee's roughly 50-minute meeting with Sonia Gandhi the previous day, which focused on unity and public issues. Senior Trinamool figures dismissed speculation of a merger with Congress as baseless. 

Sushmita Dev resigned from the Rajya Sabha and the Trinamool on Wednesday. She met Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and expressed admiration for his work, while saying she would announce future plans in due course. 

Her departure followed that of Sukhendu Sekhar Roy.

In the West Bengal Assembly, 58 of the Trinamool's 80 MLAs broke away to form a separate bloc recognised as the principal opposition under Ritabrata Banerjee, who has claimed growing support and described his group as the "real Trinamool," while ruling out a Congress merger.