Amid crisis in Trinamool, Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee to attend INDIA bloc meet today

Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee attended the INDIA bloc meeting in New Delhi amid internal turmoil within the Trinamool Congress. The party faces defections, parliamentary uncertainty and legal challenges involving Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata: Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew, Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, will be attending the meeting of the opposition INDIA bloc in New Delhi later in the day. Political observers feel that more than the other allies in the INDIA bloc, the meeting is especially crucial for Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee.

It is to be seen how successful the former Chief Minister and her nephew are in the meeting to garner backing from other INDIA allies amid the all-round crisis the party is facing after defeat in the recently concluded West Bengal elections.

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Following the electoral loss, Mamata Banerjee’s party, Trinamool Congress, is facing an existential crisis as a majority group has broken away and established itself in the Assembly. Now there are rising apprehensions about the formation of a similar majority bloc in the party’s Parliamentary party under the leadership of rebel Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member, Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar. A party insider said that almost all party MPs, both from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, are currently in New Delhi.

In such a situation, all eyes will be on the developments within the Trinamool Congress and the outcome of the INDIA bloc meeting. While Abhishek Banerjee had reached New Delhi on Saturday afternoon, Mamata Banerjee arrived in the national capital on Sunday evening.

Incidentally, Abhishek Banerjee was supposed to appear at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police in South Kolkata by noon on Monday. This is in connection with an ongoing CID probe into the mismatch in the signatures of several Trinamool Congress legislators on a resolution regarding the appointment of four important opposition positions in the West Bengal Assembly.

However, that possibility has been ruled out because of his presence in New Delhi to attend the meeting. This is the second time Abhishek Banerjee will skip the CID summons; the first was on June 1.

A crucial hearing in a single-judge vacation bench in Kolkata is scheduled for June 10 pertaining to Abhishek Banerjee’s petition challenging the CID notice and also seeking protection from coercive police action, including arrest in the same case.