The Trinamool Congress suffered another setback on Thursday as Rajya Sabha member Prakash Chik Baraik resigned from the upper house, becoming the third party MP to step down this week.
Baraik met Rajya Sabha Chairman C. P. Radhakrishnan and submitted his resignation.
"I do hereby resign from the membership of Rajya Sabha, which may please be accepted with immediate effect,” Baraik wrote in his resignation letter.
Baraik was serving as a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and the Consultative Committee on Tribal Affairs.
It remains unclear whether Baraik is also planning to resign from the Trinamool Congress, following the path taken by fellow MPs Sushmita Dev and Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, who quit both the Rajya Sabha and the party earlier this week.
Roy resigned from the upper house on Monday before announcing his exit from the Trinamool Congress, citing differences with the party leadership. Dev followed suit on Wednesday, resigning from both Parliament and the party. She later met Himanta Biswa Sarma in Delhi, fuelling speculation that she may join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Deepening crisis within Trinamool
The string of resignations has intensified what appears to be the most serious internal crisis in the Trinamool Congress since its formation. The party is facing unrest both in Parliament and in West Bengal, with a section of rebel members openly challenging the leadership of Mamata Banerjee.
In the Lok Sabha, a group of 20 MPs, led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, has reportedly written to Speaker Om Birla expressing support for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Meanwhile, in the West Bengal Assembly, at least 58 MLAs have backed expelled legislator Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition, rejecting the party's official nominee, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay. In the meantime, a signature forgery case also rattled the official leadership.
