Amid a growing rebellion within Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha members, Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s National General Secretary and Lok Sabha member, has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Banerjee urged the Speaker not to acknowledge any separate block within the Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party in the Lower House. He emphasized that the Trinamool Congress functions as a single and unified political entity.
Rebel Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha members, believed to be in the majority, plan to meet the Lok Sabha Speaker to seek recognition for a separate block within the party’s Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha. Ahead of this meeting, Abhishek Banerjee sent a letter to the Speaker. Notably, journalist-turned-politician Sagarika Ghose and Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Kirti Azad, aligned with Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, delivered the letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s office.
The Trinamool Congress currently holds 27 seats in the Lok Sabha, with one seat from Basirhat constituency in North 24 Parganas district vacant since the passing of Trinamool Congress MP Haji Sk. Nurul Islam in September 2024. Reports suggest that 20 Lok Sabha members of the party have turned rebel. However, Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, a four-time Lok Sabha member and leader of the rebel faction, claimed the number had risen to 22 without disclosing their identities.
In his letter, Abhishek Banerjee argued that the Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha is an integral part of the parent political organization. He emphasized that legally, the Trinamool Congress is a single entity. Banerjee highlighted that there is only one leader and Chief Whip of the party in the Lok Sabha, both appointed with the parent political party’s approval. He further stated that individual MPs cannot establish a parallel block within the party in the Lok Sabha and seek separate recognition.
Incidentally, while Sagarika Ghose and Kirti Azad delivered the letter from Abhishek Banerjee to the Lok Sabha Speaker, rebel Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha members were meeting at the residence of Union Minister and BJP leader Bhupender Yadav in New Delhi.
