NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress (TMC) seems to be staring at a party split after suspended leader Riju Dutta claimed that 50 MLAs held discussions at a hotel regarding the future of the party. He claimed that they will meet the West Bengal assembly speaker and put forward three demands, including that of being the “real Trinamool”. They would also stake claim over the party symbol and demand that the leader of opposition be Ritabrata Bandopadhyay, and not Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay. “Two TMC MLAs, Ritabrata Bandopadhyay and Sandipan Saha, wrote a letter to the Speaker claiming their signatures were forged. Upon hearing this, the Trinamool Congress expelled these two MLAs. Since I also served in the Trinamool Congress for many years, I received news and Kunal Ghosh also stated in the press that approximately 50 Trinamool Congress MLAs, led by Ritabrata Bandopadhyay, met at a hotel. They also spoke on the phone and held a meeting with several MLAs at the MLA hostel in the evening,” said suspended TMC leader, Riju Dutta.Listing their demands, he said, “First, we are a two-thirds majority. Around 50 MLAs are with us. We are the real Trinamool Congress. Second, since we are the real Trinamool Congress, the Leader of the Opposition will be Ritabrata Bandopadhyay, and not Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay. Thirdly, we have a two-thirds majority, so this symbol should be ours.”

Will Bengal see a Maharashtra model?

Riju Dutta said that the “Shiv Sena Maharashtra model” was currently in effect in West Bengal, referring to the 2022 split led by Eknath Shinde.In 2022, Eknath Shinde led a rebellion against then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, splitting the Shiv Sena and bringing down the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.The consequences went beyond a mere division of legislators. Uddhav Thackeray eventually lost control of the original “Shiv Sena” name and its iconic bow-and-arrow symbol to the Shinde faction.However, senior TMC leader and MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay has claimed that the overwhelming majority of the party’s legislators remained firmly behind Mamata Banerjee and that the organisation would continue to be guided by its veteran leadership.TMC chief Mamata Banerjee slammed the rebel MLAs seeking to allegedly join Suvendu government in Bengal, terming them “traitors”.