Ritabrata Banerjee-led Trinamool’s new block to hold first meet in Bengal Assembly today

A rebel faction of the Trinamool Congress has become the official opposition in the West Bengal Assembly after securing support from 60 MLAs. Ritabrata Banerjee was recognized as Leader of Opposition, while the original Trinamool Congress bloc was reduced to 20 legislators

Kolkata: The first meeting of the new block in the Trinamool Congress Legislative Party in the West Bengal Assembly, which is now the recognised group and the official principal opposition party in the state as per records of the House, will be held on Thursday.

The meeting, to be held on the Assembly premises, will be chaired by Ritabrata Banerjee, the ‘expelled’ Trinamool Congress legislator from Uluberia (Purba) constituency in Kolkata-adjacent Howrah district. Ritabrata is now the official leader of the new block of Trinamool Congress’ legislative party in the House and also the official Leader of Opposition (LoP), as per Assembly records.

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Although a resolution nominating Ritabrata as the LoP was endorsed by 58 Trinamool Congress legislators, who signed the resolution, which was accepted by Speaker Rathindra Bose on Wednesday, a total of 60 rebel MLAs will attend the meeting.

This means that the original block in Trinamool Congress, which still owes its allegiance to the former West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, her nephew and the party’s general secretary, is now left with just 20 legislators.

Exactly a month ago, the results of the Assembly elections were declared on May 4, in which the Trinamool Congress faced a landslide defeat with their tally in the 294-seat West Bengal Assembly reduced to 80.

Political observers believe that the manner in which rebellion was orchestrated by Ritabrata and his associates leading to the disintegration of Trinamool Congress on Wednesday was a well-thought-out process.

“First, Ritabrata and his fellow party legislator from Entally Assembly constituency in North Kolkata, Sandipan Saha, informed the office of the Speaker about the signature mismatches of several Trinamool Congress legislators in the original resolution submitted by undivided Trinamool Congress naming legislators for crucial Assembly slots reserved for the opposition bench. Thereafter, as a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe in the signature mismatches case started, rebellion started spreading, finally leading to the disintegration of the Mamata Banerjee-founded party on Wednesday,” a city-based political observer said.

According to him, even after the formation of the new block, Ritabrata and his associates are continuing their efforts to further break the original block and create a wall between Mamata Banerjee and her nephew. “On one hand, Ritabrata is urging Mamata Banerjee to act as advisor to the party’s new block in the West Bengal Assembly and on the other hand his team in the new block is indirectly asking the former West Bengal Chief Minister to expel her nephew from the party,” the political source said.

He also pointed out that the formation of the new team of leaders in the new block had a method in it, ensuring representations from multiple sections.

“Ritabrata, the LoP, himself comes from an upper-class Brahmin background. Of the three deputy leaders of the opposition. Siuli Saha is a woman from a Scheduled Caste background, and Javen Ahmed Khan is a Muslim. Sandipan, as the third deputy leader of the opposition, comes from the trading community. Finally, the chief whip of the new block of Trinamool Congress’s legislative party in the West Bengal Assembly, Akhruzzaman, is again a Muslim,” the political observer pointed out.