New Delhi:
Senior Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital on Saturday. The meeting followed an earlier discussion he held with Union Minister Bhupender Yadav. Bandyopadhyay was accompanied by rebel Trinamool MP Satabdi Roy when he visited Yadav’s residence on Motilal Nehru Marg in the afternoon.
Hours after the Bandyopadhyay-Shah meet, Trinamool faced another jolt as senior party leader and ex-minister Manas Bhunia resigned from the party. Bhunia, 74, told NDTV that he was unhappy with the ongoing crisis the party is dealing with, but did not reveal what his next course of action would be.
The developments have triggered fresh political speculation amid ongoing turmoil within the Trinamool Congress. Twenty rebel Trinamool MPs are set to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday. During that meeting, the rebel MPs will demand the formation of a separate faction and request separate seating arrangements, distinct from the principal Trinamool party.
Rebel MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia stated on Friday that 19 of the party’s existing 28 Lok Sabha members were already backing the faction. If Bandyopadhyay switches sides, that number would go up to 20. The leader of the rebel faction, Kakoli Ghosh Dasdidar, has declared that the bloc, once recognised, would offer support to the BJP-led NDA in Parliament.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, 77, has been a member of the Lok Sabha for six terms. He represents the Kolkata Uttar constituency of West Bengal and is the leader of the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha.
On Bandyopadhyay’s meeting with Yadav, Trinamool MLA Kunal Ghosh said, “Mamata didi gave positions and honour to these people, and this is what these people give in return. Sudip Bandyopadhyay has a history of changing parties…We had said that he is not good and his politics worked only by misleading Mamata didi. I was once suspended by the party for it. Today, it is being proved that what I said that day was correct…”
Ghosh added that it was on account of the Kolkata Uttar MP’s “lust for power and position” that the Trinamool lost several important leaders to the BJP.
“Able leaders like Tapas Roy and Sajal Ghosh left the party because of Sudip da’s personal insecurities and his lust for power and position within the party. I was suspended earlier from the party for speaking against him and in favour of senior leaders like Tapas da. Let the leadership realise now what kind of person they supported before,” Ghosh said.
Ghosh said that earlier this week, when the CID raided the premises housing Mamata Banerjee’s residence, he received a call from Bandyopadhyay asking where he was.
“When I told him I was already at Didi’s place, he said his wife, Nayna (a Trinamool MLA), would be reaching the spot soon. I waited, but she never came. Instead, Sudip da has now reached the BJP’s doorstep,” Ghosh said sarcastically.
Following a meeting of party leaders at the Trinamool office in former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Kalighat residence, Ghosh questioned whether the ex-chief minister deserved this kind of treatment from the Kolkata Uttar MP on whom she “showered trust and respect”.
“The advantage that the BJP has with Sudip is that they get a buy-one-get-one-free offer. Alongside a leader who sports a wig, they will also get a mobile beauty parlour,” Ghosh said in apparent reference to Bandyopadhyay’s wife, Nayna, but without naming her.
Ghosh called Bandyopadhyay a “traitor” who “backstabbed” not only the party leadership, but also the “workers who worked for him during the 2024 parliamentary polls and the people who voted for him to fight the BJP”.
Veteran Trinamool parliamentarian Saugata Roy said he was “deeply hurt” at Bandyopadhyay’s move.
“I know. Sudip talked to me 3 to 4 days ago and said I am not going anywhere right now. If I do something, I will do it after asking you. I saw that he took Satabdi along with him and went to the in-charge of Bengal’s Operation Lotus, Bhupendra Yadav’s residence. What can I say? Staying in a party or leaving it depends on the morals of the people…”Roy said.
“What can I do? I had spoken to Sudip Bandyopadhyay three or four days ago. He told me that he was not going anywhere. He said if he did anything, we would do it together. But then he went to the residence of Yadav, who is in charge of Operation Lotus (purported political moves to split the Trinamool) in West Bengal. The interpretation for this is anybody’s guess,” he added.
Those who have left the party or defected have been weeded out, according to the party.
Trinamool has appointed a new youth president, Arnab Banerjee, replacing Saayoni Ghosh. Alifa Ahmed has been named the new Mahila (Women’s) president. Kunal Ghosh has been appointed President of North Kolkata, replacing MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay for the North Kolkata organisational district president post. Musaraf Hossain has been made president of the minority cell.
A group of 64 of the 80 Trinamool MLAs in the state Assembly broke away from the party and secured recognition from Speaker Rathindra Bose. Ritabrata Banerjee was named Leader of the Opposition. That recognition has been challenged by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction in the Calcutta High Court, which continues to hear the case.
