Nineteen Members of Parliament from Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Lok Sabha have formed a separate bloc, achieving the two-thirds majority required to avoid anti-defection laws, with Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar reportedly leading the rebel faction expected to declare support for the NDA, a significant development following Banerjee's previous removal of Dastidar as the TMC's Lok Sabha chief whip. This internal dissent within the TMC's parliamentary party, which comprises 28 Lok Sabha MPs after one seat became vacant, coincides with other setbacks for the party, including the resignation of Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, who is rumored to join the BJP, and another resignation earlier in the week from Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, collectively indicating a substantial challenge to Mamata Banerjee's leadership and the TMC's political standing.

Nineteen Members of Parliament from Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Lok Sabha have formed a separate bloc, achieving the two-thirds majority required to avoid anti-defection laws, with Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar reportedly leading the rebel faction expected to declare support for the NDA, a significant development following Banerjee's previous removal of Dastidar as the TMC's Lok Sabha chief whip. This internal dissent within the TMC's parliamentary party, which comprises 28 Lok Sabha MPs after one seat became vacant, coincides with other setbacks for the party, including the resignation of Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, who is rumored to join the BJP, and another resignation earlier in the week from Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, collectively indicating a substantial challenge to Mamata Banerjee's leadership and the TMC's political standing.

Nineteen Members of Parliament from Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Lok Sabha have formed a separate bloc, achieving the two-thirds majority required to avoid anti-defection laws, with Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar reportedly leading the rebel faction expected to declare support for the NDA, a significant development following Banerjee's previous removal of Dastidar as the TMC's Lok Sabha chief whip. This internal dissent within the TMC's parliamentary party, which comprises 28 Lok Sabha MPs after one seat became vacant, coincides with other setbacks for the party, including the resignation of Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, who is rumored to join the BJP, and another resignation earlier in the week from Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, collectively indicating a substantial challenge to Mamata Banerjee's leadership and the TMC's political standing.

Mamata Banerjee appears to have lost complete grip on the Trinamool Congress (TMC) as 19 MPs from the party sought to form a separate bloc.

The TMC has 28 Lok Sabha MPs and for the rebels to avoid the provisions of the anti-defection law, need to establish support from two-thirds of the Parliamentarians.

One of the seats fell vacant after the death of Basirhat MP Haji Nurul Islam. With 19 out of the 28 MPs signing the rebel list, they have attained the two-third majority.

Who are the TMC MPs in the rebel camp?

  1. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar - Barasat
  2. Saayoni Ghosh - Jadavpur
  3. Mala Roy - Kolkata South
  4. Shatrughan Sinha - Asansol
  5. Yusuf Pathan - Behrampur
  6. Jagdish Chandra Basunia - Cooch Behar
  7. Rachana Bannerjee - Hooghly
  8. Satabdi Roy - Birbhum
  9. Abu Tahir Khan - Murshidabad
  10. June Malia - Medinipur
  11. Asit Kumar Mall - Bolpur
  12. Khali ur Rehman - Jangipur
  13. Bapi Haldar - Mathurapur
  14. Partha Bhumik - Barrackpore
  15. Mitali Bag - Aarambagh
  16. Kalipada Soren - Jhalgram
  17. Aroop Chakraborty - Bankura
  18. Deepak Adhikari - Ghatal
  19. Sharmila Sarkar - Vardhaman East

The rebel MPs, who are led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, are expected to declare support for the NDA. Mamata had previously replaced Dastidar as the TMC's Lok Sabha chief whip and gave the post to Kalyan Bandhopadhyay. However, the rebel faction is likely to reach out to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to reinstate Dastidar as the chief whip.

The TMC is also dealing blows in Rajya Sabha too as MP Sushmita Dev resigned from the party on Wednesday. She is likely to join the BJP as she met Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma following her resignation, according to sources. Earlier, Another TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray resigned earlier this week.