NEW DELHI: Rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs on Monday said they would fight for control of the party’s election symbol, asserting that they remained part of the organisation and were seeking to “rectify” it, a day after 20 dissident lawmakers announced their merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).Speaking to reporters, Arup Chakraborty said, “We have not left TMC; we’re in TMC and trying to rectify the party. Why did it get damaged, that is not being discussed. We will fight for the party symbol; we have 20 members, why should we not fight for the symbol,” news agency PTI reported.Signalling a prolonged political and legal battle, Chakraborty said the rebellion marked the beginning of a new phase in West Bengal politics. “A new game has started. Khela Hobe” he added, claiming that the move would bring development and employment to the state.The remarks came a day after 20 rebel TMC MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and declared that they were merging with the NCPI. During the meeting, the MPs also sought a separate seating arrangement in Parliament, effectively formalising their split from the Mamata Banerjee-led party in the legislature. Six-time MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who joined the rebel camp, said the dissident group would move the courts to establish itself as the “real” TMC and stake claim to the party’s iconic twin-flower election symbol.The rebellion has triggered a sharp response from the TMC leadership, which argues that the move is invalid under the anti-defection law. Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution clearly requires the political party itself to merge or split before legislators can claim exemption from disqualification provisions.In a post on X, Ghose said, “Massive false information is being circulated on the 2/3rds majority and anti-defection law. The 10th Schedule and the Supreme Court have made it amply clear.”“It is the political party outside Parliament (not the party representatives sitting inside Parliament) which must first split or merge, and then after this condition, the people inside do not attract the anti-defection law if 2/3rds choose to break away,” she added.Senior TMC leader Saugata Roy also attacked the rebels, accusing them of betraying the mandate on which they were elected. “Now it is clear that the AITC is the party with Mamata Banerjee as chairman. The symbol is two flowers, whose goal is to defeat the BJP,” he told PTI Videos.“Twenty MPs elected on TMC symbol decided to betray their voters by joining an obscure party, some National(ist) Citizens Party of India, illegally, declaring their support for the NDA under Modi,” Roy said.“They obviously did this to avoid the provisions of Schedule 10(4) of the Constitution. People are watching this news,” he added.Chakraborty also launched a direct attack on Mamata Banerjee, claiming she was under pressure following the split. “Mamata Banerjee is scared; she can’t even call a meeting of the party. She could not even hold a meeting in her constituency before the election,” he said.He further identified Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Sudip Bandyopadhyay as the principal leaders of the rebel grouping.The struggle for control of the TMC is unfolding beyond Parliament. In West Bengal, 64 of the party’s 80 MLAs recently broke away and secured recognition as a separate legislative formation, with Ritabrata Banerjee becoming Leader of the Opposition. The Mamata Banerjee-led party has challenged that decision before the Calcutta High Court.The NCPI, with which the rebel MPs announced their merger, is a registered but unrecognised party based in Tripura and has little electoral presence. In the 2023 Tripura Assembly elections, it contested three seats, with its candidates either finishing behind NOTA or securing only marginally higher vote counts.
