TMC rebels await official status after breaking off from Mamata Banerjee's leadership

Two groupings comprising rebel Trinamool Congress lawmakers -- the Ritabrata Banerjee -led 62 legislators in the West Bengal assembly and 20 MPs under the leadership of Sudip Bandyopadhyay in the Lok Sabha — might have to wait longer for their official status to be decided.

According to officials, there is no clarity when their issues will be resolved. Banerjee—who is the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal assembly—wants to be recognised as the Trinamool Congress, led by former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee . The 20 rebel MPs wants to merge with the nondescript Nationalist Citizens Party of India, which supports the National Democratic Alliance.

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On June 14, 19 rebel TMC MPs submitted a petition to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla , seeking recognition of their merger with NCPI. The next day, MP Rachana Banerjee submitted a similar letter.

But the merger has not yet been approved, though Birla allotted them separate seating in the House during the monsoon session.

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar , the face of the rebel TMC MPs, told HT, “The speaker’s office had asked for additional documents such as the party’s registration with the Election Commission , details of the organisation and the record of the past elections fought by the party. We have submitted all these documents. Our party president had come to Lok Sabha Speaker’s office. Now that the monsoon session is over, we are hopeful the speaker will soon take a favourable decision.”

According to officials, the process of recognition of NCPI might be lengthy and depend on some external factors -- including a pending case in the Supreme Court filed by Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray against the Election Commission’s decision to recognise the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena . On July 18, Birla allowed the merger of six former Sena (UBT) MPs with the Sena.

Meanwhile, EC is yet to decide if Ritabrata-led faction is the real TMC. Officials said the pending Sena case is also being closely watched by the poll body.

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According to an official, the procedure to freeze the TMC’s two-flowers symbol has just started and officials are certain that one of the factions will go to court. “It is better to wait for the court’s instructions and let the court decide on all issues related to symbol, party ownership, and assets,” said a functionary.

Ritabrata Banerjee told HT, “We have submitted all our documents and have full faith in EC. Unlike the former CM (Mamata Banerjee) we are not fascists to call names such as Vanish Kumar. This is a process and it would take time.”

Saubhadra Chatterji is Deputy Political Editor at the Hindustan Times. He writes on both politics and policies.