Fresh trouble mounts for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, with about 23 of its 41 MPs allegedly preparing to exit the party.
The rebel group of MPs are also said to be in touch with the 60 rebel MLAs led by expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee.
Amid the possible implosion of the party in the Parliament, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday called an emergency meeting of MPs and MLAs at her residence in Kalighat to convince them to stay.
This comes on the back of Mamata reaching out to several MLAs from Murshidabad, Howrah, and North Dinajpur to prevent more of them from being taken away by Ritabrata's rebel group.
The party is also said to have entrusted two MPs—one from the Lok Sabha and another from the Rajya Sabha—to persuade other TMC MPs not to join Ritabrata's "new Trinamool" group.
At the helm of the rebel bloc of MPs is likely Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who has been vocal about her recent disagreements with the party's top brass, local media reports said.
However, Dastidar has not yet publicly spoken out about any such plans.
As in the case of Raghav Chadha's exit from the AAP, the rebel MPs would need a strength of two-thirds of the total number of TMC MPs to jump ship without invoking the anti-defection law.
Also, like Ritabrata Banerjee and the 60 rebel MLAs, the rebel bloc MPs are also reportedly frustrated with the TMC's national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, and his growing influence within the party.
In fact, after becoming the LoP, he criticised Abhishek for calling him a thief, but also joined a number of the rebel MPs in calling for Mamata Banerjee to be their "chief advisor".
The possible turmoil in the Parliament also comes just hours after veteran leader Sukhendu Sekhar Roy told local media that the 'Ritabrata model' split might happen in the Parliament as well.
"Talks are going on behind the scenes and it is very real. Proposals are already being sent to many Trinamool MPs. This breakdown is undeniable and it is probably no longer possible to prevent it," he had said.
