TMC Faces Fight for Survival Amidst Internal Strife and External Pressure

From the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC shifting its Delhi operations from the residence of Partha Bowmick – a Lok Sabha MP whose name has surfaced among the 19 rebel MPs --to its earlier address on South Avenue -- the home of another MP Mohammed Nadimul Haque – about a week back to the early-morning knock by police at national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's Kalighat residence in Kolkata on Saturday, the fight for survival that the party is facing is all too evident.

It was common knowledge during TMC’s tenure in govt that both Mamata and Abhishek's residences in Kolkata were virtually impregnable. It was no surprise then that the searches at Abhishek Banerjee’s house drew sharp reactions from Mamata camp.

“3 AM Saturday June 13. Police arrive at Abhishek Banerjee’s Kalighat residence in Kolkata. 5 AM: Disaster Management team called in to break open locks. 6:30 AM: Search begins, from second floor to terrace, lasting 90 minutes. Outcome? Seizure report says: nil. No evidence. No wrongdoing. Nothing,” Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said in a post on X.

“Just political vendetta, intimidation and mental torture. Operation Lotus is targeting every leader who refuses to surrender to the BJP’s diktat,” she alleged.

TMC, which had been running its Delhi office from Partha Bhowmick’s bungalow at 20, Dr Rajendra Prasad Road since last year, moved to 61 South Avenue about a week ago after it learnt that Bhowmick was among the dissidents, according to party sources. It had earlier been operating out of Nadimul Haque’s residence, to which it has now returned.

It turns out that Bhowmick had placed a request for new accommodation and was allotted a flat earlier this week in Hooghly block, a type VII accommodation in multi-storied apartments for MPs on Bishambar Das Marg.

Meanwhile, ahead of the rebel MPs’ meeting with Speaker on Monday to seek recognition as the "real TMC", the Mamata camp stepped up its attack. TMC’s national spokesperson Saket Gokhale claimed that "the split attempt is dead. The 91st amendment deleted it. Forming a 'separate group' has zero protection under law."

He added, “A “merger” needs the whole party to merge & not just the legislative party. They can merge only if the entire TMC merged with BJP -- not happening in our lifetimes. Therefore, forget 20 MPs or two-thirds. Even if they had 25 out of 28 signatures, they can’t 'merge' with BJP.”