TMC rebels remove Mamata Banerjee as the party chairperson

In West Bengal, the rebel camp led by Ritabrata Banerjee, Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Assembly on Monday, removed former chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee as party chairperson, and Abhishek Banerjee, MP from Diamond Harbour, as national general secretary of the party in the state. The dissident group claimed it had secured the support of a significant section of the party's legislators and functionaries. Among the claims was that several of Mamata Banerjee's close associates, including former Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, had joined the rebel camp.
According to sources,Ritabrata Banerjee held a meeting at a hotel in New Town, where around 60 MLAs and 70 councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation were present and supported the decisions. According to the rebel faction, around 500 Trinamool leaders had joined the Special Session, including sitting and former MLAs, district presidents, and councillors. At the meeting, the rebels announced the formation of a 30-member National Working Committee, positioning it as the legitimate organisational core of what they described as the "real" Trinamool Congress. The meeting first approved a 10-member national working committee and Arup Roy, the veteran MLA from Howrah Central, was then elected chairperson by voice vote."If Mamata Banerjee wants to be chief advisor, she is most welcome," he said. Reacting to questions about Abhishek Banerjee, Ritabrata Banerjee said, “Who is Abhishek? The man, who was heckled by people? Nothing was discussed about him in today’s meeting.”
Ritabrata Banerjee reportedly claimed the party was facing a "constitutional crisis", arguing that Article 20 of the TMC constitution required the formation of a national working committee every three years. According to the rebel camp, the last national working committee was constituted on February 12, 2022, and its tenure expired on February 11 this year.
Hours after the development, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress issued show-cause notices to the dissident MLAs who attended the meeting.The party's disciplinary committee issued show-cause notices to Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Arup Roy, Javed Khan, Rathin Ghosh, Biplab Mitra, Snehasis Chakraborty, Sabina Yasmin and others for "deliberately indulging in anti-party activities". The dissident group’s move comes after tensions within the party, with the Trinamool Congress earlier expelling Ritabrata Banerjee, MLA from Uluberia Purba, and Sandipan Saha, MLA from Entally, for anti-party activities.