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‘We are real TMC, 50 MLAs with us’: Rift out in open for Mamata's party in Bengal
Remarks made by suspended TMC leader Riju Dutta on Tuesday added fresh suspense to the future of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in Bengal.
Amid politics heating up in West Bengal, a leader recently suspended by the Trinamool Congress has claimed that 50 party MLAs are united, met at a hotel recently, and form two-thirds majority. Remarks made by suspended TMC leader Riju Dutta on Tuesday added fresh suspense to the future of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and her party in Bengal, weeks after suffering a big defeat at the hands of the BJP.
Giving details about the ongoing “signature scandal” or "Signgate" that has triggered a CID investigation, Dutta, in an ANI news agency interview, spoke about two expelled Trinamool MLAs, Ritabrata Bandopadhyay and Sandipan Saha, who claimed their signatures were forged in documents submitted to the West Bengal Assembly.
He also said that some party leaders would approach the Speaker of the Assembly this afternoon to raise their issues.
Mamata staring at a Maharashtra model in Bengal?
Riju Dutta said that a “Maharashtra model” was in place in Bengal as he claimed that about 50 MLAs are united to form a two-thirds majority. “We are a two-thirds majority. Around 50 MLAs are with us. Since we are the real Trinamool Congress, the Leader of the Opposition will be Ritabrata Bandopadhyay, and not Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay,” Dutta said, adding that since the majority is formed by the said legislators, they should also be allowed to retain the party symbol.
He went on to say that the “Shiv Sena Maharashtra model” was currently in place in Bengal.
Dutta may have been referencing the 2022 split of Shiv Sena into two factions, after which the then Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government was ousted from power in Maharashtra. A fight for the party name and symbol had erupted back then as well, which eventually went into the Eknath Shinde-led faction's favour, given its legislators' majority in the state Assembly.
However, Mamata Banerjee is not done pushing back against the internal crisis her party has found itself in, and planned a protest in the state on Tuesday against an alleged attack against her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
TMC rift out in the open
Riju Dutta's remarks aren't first indication of a very public rift within the Trinamool Congress. On Monday, the party expelled Sandipan Saha and Ritabrata Banerjee after 61 out of 80 party MLAs skipped key meetings. The legislators were also accused of engaging in anti-party activities.
However, the timing of these expulsions raised eyebrows, as they came almost immediately after the legislators publicly questioned the “forged” signatures. The scandal pertains to documents submitted to the West Bengal Assembly regarding the appointment of the Leader of the Opposition and the party's chief whip after the 2026 elections which the TMC lost.
It remains to be seen how the rift plays out in Bengal, with several party leaders under scrutiny, and a CID probe into the alleged scandal underway.
