Bengal MLA Ritabrata Banerjee To NDTV On What's Next, "Backstabber" Label

Expelled Trinamool Congress MLA Ritabrata Banerjee's claim to the post of Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal seems headed toward a courtroom drama on whether he indeed holds that post.

Senior lawyer and Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee has challenged Ritabrata Banerjee's claim and filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court, challenging the assembly Speaker's recognition of the Trinamool rebel bloc as the main Opposition.

"That's for the court to decide if Kalyan Banerjee has decided to move the high court. That is his prerogative. No problem in that," Ritabrata Banerjee told NDTV's Padmaja Joshi.

"It is not the question of any political party at this present moment. It is a category thing. Within the West Bengal state legislative assembly, more than two-third of the elected Trinamool MLAs went to the Speaker and physically gave letters," Ritabrata Banerjee said.

This new bloc which claims to be the real Trinamool is 61-member strong, he said, adding the public knows only about 58 and naming the remaining three would be a breach of privilege, but is willing to prove the numbers on the floor of the house.

But Ritabrata Banerjee may face an unavoidable legal hurdle that has parallels with the Maharashtra political saga when the Shiv Sena and the NCP branched out into factions. The Supreme Court's judgment in the Maharashtra case held that it is the political party and not the legislature party that appoints the whip and the leader.

In Bengal's case, the first letter recognising leadership in the Trinamool came from Abhishek Banerjee. The expelled leader, however, alleged fraud in the process by using fake signatures of MLAs in party documents.

"One MLA, Mohammed Baharul Islam, was not present on May 6. He was present on the 19th. But his signature shows the date as the 6th. Now, his mobile tower location suggests that on the 6th, for the entire day, he did not come out of his house due post-poll violence," Ritabrata Banerjee told NDTV.

The MLA has written to the Speaker, a police case has been filed and an investigation has started. "You cannot send forged documents. This is a daylight robbery, you cannot do that," he said.

He said the only resolution passed on May 6 was a standing ovation for Abhishek Banerjee. "If you tell me whether I stood or not, yes, I stood, but it was a half effort. I did not stand up fully," Ritabrata Banerjee said, adding he saw Bagnan MLA Raja Sen refusing to get up. "That was the day Sandipan Saha and myself got the idea that we can also fight."

In the May 19 meeting, Ritabrata Banerjee alleged MLAs were repeatedly told to write the date as "6" on attendance sheets even as several of those listed had not been present on May 6.

"It's a revolt against the boss culture. It's a revolt against the despotic mindset, the manner in which human beings were treated like animals," Ritabrata Banerjee said, and recalled an incident of four-term MLAs waiting five hours outside Abhishek Banerjee's office, only to be told by a secretary that "boss is not available today."

Ritabrata Banerjee was brought into the Trinamool by Abhishek Banerjee himself. He was sent to the Rajya Sabha and was also given a ticket to contest in the state. "Is this a precondition that you cannot tell spade a spade?" he said, not denying all those factors.

The expelled Trinamool MLA, however, wants former Mamata Banerjee to remain as "chief advisor" to the rebel bloc, though she has called him a backstabber.

"That's her prerogative. She's a very tall leader. I won't go into that. I may be a backstabber, but unlike her nephew, wherever I am going to my constituency, I'm coming out, I don't have a convoy. I don't have a 22-car convoy with me," he said, referring to how a crowd thrashed Abhishek Banerjee recently.

He said no one in his constituency has greeted him with the chant that followed Abhishek Banerjee in South 24 Parganas last month.