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?
- Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar - Barasat
- Saayoni Ghosh - Jadavpur
- Shatrughan Sinha - Asansol
- Yusuf Pathan - Behrampur
- Jagdish Chandra Basunia - Cooch Behar
- Rachana Bannerjee - Hooghly
- Mala Roy - Kolkata South
- Satabdi Roy - Birbhum
- Abu Tahir Khan - Murshidabad
- June Malia - Medinipur
- Asit Kumar Mall - Bolpur
- Khali ur Rehman - Jangipur
- Bapi Haldar - Mathurapur
- Partha Bhumik - Barrackpore
- Mitali Bag - Aarambagh
- Kalipada Soren - Jhalgram
- Aroop Chakraborty - Bankura
- Deepak Adhikari - Ghatal
- 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.
