Two splits of TMC in Bengal! The Ritabrat Banerjee group has taken over the Kolkata-based party office.
TMC Internal Conflict: Something is happening in Bengal politics right now which Mamata Banerjee might not have imagined. What happened in Kolkata on Friday was not an ordinary incident, but a sign of shifting power equations. A rebel group led by Ritbrat Banerjee has taken over the TMC head office.
On Friday, a rebel group led by Ritabrat Banerjee occupied the Trinamool Congress headquarters in Kolkata’s Metropolitan Municipality. He was accompanied by a contingent of prominent MLAs including Firhad Hakim, Sandipan Saha, Javed Khan and Akhruzman, which has shaken the Mamata Banerjee faction.
What is the game behind this ‘takeover’?
The Ritabrat faction claims that most of the party’s MLAs and councilors are with them. Significantly, he did not deface Mamata Banerjee’s pictures even while occupying the office, indicating that he wants to change the leadership even while retaining Didi. A placard with Arup Rai’s name now hangs outside the office, pointing to the next possible TMC leadership.
A fight across
On the other hand, the Mamata Banerjee camp in Kalighat is furious over the incident. MLA Kunal Ghosh launched a direct attack on the government and the police, alleging that the takeover was in complete collusion with the state administration and that an ousted leader was playing the dirty game by calling himself the “B team” of the BJP.
The two groups were already locked in a square in front of Victoria House for the July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally, which the police refused to allow. Now, this new office dispute has brought Bengal politics to a crossroads, where the real battle for election symbols and party funds is now to be decided from the streets to the corridors of the courts and the Election Commission.
