Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appointed Kalyan Banerjee as the party’s Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha, a day after dissident MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar asserted that she continued to hold the post.
The appointment was communicated to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla through a letter from Mamata Banerjee. In the letter, she stated that Kalyan Banerjee had been appointed as the Chief Whip of the All India Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha with immediate effect and requested that the change be formally recorded.
The move comes amid signs of internal discord within the party. On Tuesday, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar maintained that she remained the TMC’s Chief Whip, describing her removal as “arbitrary and unilateral".
“My removal was arbitrary and unilateral. The party chairperson may have announced my replacement from the post, but that does not alter the constitutional and parliamentary position overnight,” she said.
Meanwhile, TMC MP Mahua Moitra weighed in on the controversy, arguing that dissident MPs could not form a separate faction under the provisions of the anti-defection law.
In a post on X, Moitra said that even if the rebels secured the support of 19 MPs — the two-thirds strength required under the law — they could not create a separate group within the party. According to her, the only available option would be a merger with another political party, which she claimed would effectively mean joining the BJP.
“Even if traitors get 19 MPs (two-thirds), which they have not, the only option is to merge with the BJP along with two-thirds of the political party. Bhupender Yadav and the Lok Sabha Speaker cannot create a separate political party or faction,” she wrote.
Moitra also cited the 2023 judgment of the Subhash Desai vs Principal Secretary, Governor of Maharashtra case, saying the five-judge Constitution Bench had settled the legal position on the issue.
The developments have brought internal tensions within the TMC into the spotlight, even as the party leadership seeks to assert control over its parliamentary wing.
