Trinamool Congress Rift: Rebel MLAs Appoint Arup Roy as Chairperson, Mamata Banerjee Submits Own List to EC

Kolkata: As the rebel MLAs replaced Mamata Banerjee as Trinamool Congress chairperson with Arup Roy, the former West Bengal Chief Minister, submitted a list of party office bearers to the Election Commission, showing her as the TMC chief.

On Monday, after at least 58 TMC MLAs rebelled in West Bengal, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ritabrata Banerjee appointed Arup Roy as the new party chairperson, urging Mamata Banerjee to take up the role of a mentor.

Also read: TMC rebel faction forms parallel leadership structure, claims support of 64 MLAs

However, Mamata Banerjee shared the list of office bearers and National Working Committee (NWC) members as of Saturday, June 20.

The list showed Mamata Banerjee as the chairperson of the TMC, while Subrata Bakshi held the position of the Vice President, Abhishek Banerjee the National General Secretary, Derek O'Brien and Dola Sena as the Joint Secretaries and Subhasish Chakraborty as the treasurer.

Banerjee shared a 24-member NWC with the Election Commission.

TMC's disciplinary committee has also issued show-cause notices to several senior leaders, including Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Arup Roy, Javed Khan, Rathin Ghosh, Biplab Mitra, Snehasis Chakraborty and Sabina Yasmin, alleging that they deliberately indulged in anti-party activities.

This comes after Ritabrata Banerjee announced Arup Roy as the new TMC chief, along with a 30-member National Working Committee.

The West Bengal LoP said, "A special session of the All India Trinamool Congress was organised here today. During this session, the All India Trinamool Congress Committee and the NWC (National Working Committee) were constituted through a unanimous election of delegates. Arup Roy has been elected as the Chairperson of the All India Trinamool Congress. Apart from Arup Roy, 29 others have been included, making it a 30-member NWC. The members include Firhad Hakim, Arup Biswas, Rathin Ghosh, Sabina Yasmin, Ritabrata Banerjee, Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha, and others. The Vice Presidents are Firhad Hakim, Arup Biswas, Rothin Ghosh, and Sabina Yasmin. We will also appoint the District President and form the District Committee."

"We have repeatedly stated our stance regarding Mamata Banerjee's role within the TMC. We want 'Didi' to assume the responsibility of a mentor and guide us," the West Bengal LoP added.

TMC has witnessed a rebellion within, as at least 58 of the party's 80 MLAs revolted against the leadership and formed a separate faction. The rebel group subsequently backed Ritabrata Banerjee to replace Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.

Party funds, the post of the chairperson and the election symbol have become the issues of contention for the two factions in the fight for the "real TMC" tag.