The battle for control of the TMC escalated on Friday when the rebel faction, led by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, took charge of the party’s metropolitan headquarters in Kolkata, changed the locks, put up fresh posters and declared it would henceforth operate from the premises.
The new posters identified senior MLA Arup Roy as the party’s chairperson. Ritabrata said the faction would formally begin functioning from the office from Saturday.
The move came barely 24 hours after the dissident camp appeared before the full bench of the Election Commission in New Delhi to stake its claim over the party’s name, symbol and organisational structure.
Accompanied by senior leaders Firhad Hakim, Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha and party treasurer Akhruzzaman, Ritabrata arrived at the office on the EM Bypass and held a meeting inside the premises, asserting that his camp represented the “real” TMC.
Senior leader Kunal Ghosh reached the office after learning of the developments but was unable to enter as the gates had been locked.
Describing the episode as “unfortunate”, Ghosh accused the dissidents of attempting to create confusion within the party.
