Kolkata, July 30 (IANS) The rebel faction in Trinamool Congress’ Legislative Party in the West Bengal Assembly, led by expelled party legislator, Ritabrata Banerjee, has officially taken control of the party’s state headquarters at Metropolitan Bhavan in Kolkata after the faction led by Mamata Banerjee decided to end the agreement with the building owner.
The rebel faction has already entered into an initial lease agreement with the owner of the building in the matter till 2027, following which the hurdles for this faction to operate from this office have been resolved till the time the current agreement expires.
After the landslide defeat of the Trinamool Congress in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly polls, the party got bifurcated into two factions — one led by the former West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, which is the “original but minority” faction, and the other led by Ritabrata, which is the “rebel but majority” faction.
Thereafter, the tussle between the two factions started last month over the control of the party office at Metropolitan Bhavan in Kolkata.
Finally, the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, which is currently operating from her residence at Kalighat in South Kolkata, decided to end the agreement with the building owner.
Soon, after that the Ritabrata-led faction entered into an agreement with the building owner till 2027 thus clearing the hurdles for the faction to operate from that office. Ritabrata is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.
It is learnt the legislators from the rebel bloc will regularly come to this office and conduct organisational activities from there. It had been decided that a roster will be prepared and on the basis of that the legislators and leaders from this bloc will hold offices at this building every day on a rotational basis.
Th date of the meeting of the National Working Committee of the new bloc will be decided in the next two days.
Already both the factions of the Trinamool Congress have made their respective submissions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the control over the party name and electoral symbol and subsequently over the party funds.
The current situation of Trinamool Congress’ party funds is also critical as debit restrictions have been imposed on as many as 15 bank accounts of the party. Out of the 15 accounts, debit restrictions have been imposed on three bank accounts following the instructions from the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
–IANS
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