Late on Monday evening, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari reached Trinamool Congress’s four-time MP Satabdi Roy’s Delhi residence for what was officially described as a “tea meet” with the rebel MPs of the Trinamool Congress.
The meeting, signalling a fresh revolt within the party ranks and a shift in Bengal’s political equation, took place while party chief Mamata Banerjee was in the national capital.
In the morning, the same rebel group had gathered at the home of Union Minister and Bengal BJP election-in-charge Bhupendra Yadav.
Read: Trinamool’s Kakoli Dastidar Says 20 MPs Will Support NDA: “Written To Speaker”
For the BJP, an attempt to capitalise on such discontent carries its own risks. It revives uncomfortable questions about its growing proximity with Trinamool leaders and embracing the very faces it once accused of corruption, syndicate-raj and institutional decay.
The mutiny that started in the state assembly last week over alleged forged signatures submitted to the Speaker by Trinamool’s National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The matter is now being investigated by the state police’s Criminal Investigation Department or the CID, but the rebellion has split the state’s erstwhile ruling party and spilled onto parliament.
Could this send a negative message to the BJP’s Bengal cadres and supporters? That their chosen government is shaking hands and drinking tea with Trinamool “rebel” factions?
Former BJP state president and political stalwart Tathagatha Roy said this won’t harm the party in any way.
“This political gesture will not impact the morale or has reiterated time and again that no Trinamool leader will be inducted into the party. None have been taken either. So, BJP’s stand remains firm,” the former Governor of Meghalaya told NDTV.
State unit chief Samik Bhattacharya has reaffirmed that the BJP doors are closed for Trinamool leaders after its historic victory in Bengal.
“We are not a band party, we are a political party, and we will not allow any Trinamool leaders to join us after the kind of corruption they’ve indulged in,” he has said.
But leaders inside the party claim there has been criticism.
A BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, told NDTV: “There is criticism within the party. But the leadership has done it with their eyes wide open. The idea is to finish Trinamool before the civic body elections due later this year and the bigger challenge that awaits in 2029.”
The BJP came to power on its own strength with a strong margin, he said. This is why the party does not need the rebel MLAs in the state assembly.
“Similarly, at the Centre, the NDA is above the halfway mark. So rebel MPs are not needed. We have come to power by the people’s mandate. Our aim is to clean Bengal of Trinamool,” he said.
Trinamool Congress MPs still backing Mamata Banerjee are keeping a stiff upper lip.
Read: Kakoli Ghosh: Trinamool Founder-Member, Key Mamata Banerjee Aide, Now Rebel
“We are very happy these two-faced people are gone,” Kalyan Banerjee said at a press briefing in New Delhi.
The Trinamool is waiting to see what action Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla takes regarding the 20 rebel MPs who want to support the NDA by forming a new bloc in the lower house. The party will then decide on its next legal move.
Senior BJP leader Shishir Bajoria told NDTV: “The MPs and MLAs clearly know they are stuck in no man’s land. While it appears that the BJP is taking in these tainted people, one must understand the taint befell them under the instructions of the Trinamool leadership… The real bad elements like Shah Jahan, Jahangir, Sona Pappu — they will go down in history for plundering. The BJP is not going to take these elements.”
