As third TMC rebel group emerges, how BJP induction of ex-RS MPs marks a first

Weeks after quitting as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MPs, three former party leaders – Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik – joined the ruling BJP on Thursday.

Hours later, the BJP named them as its candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha bypolls from West Bengal for the seats vacated by them. It was another matter that the party earlier announced that it had shut its doors to rebel TMC leaders.

With enough numbers in the Bengal Assembly to re-elect all the three ex-MPs, the move marks the BJP’s first induction of ex-TMC leaders after the party’s Assembly election victory in May. According to BJP sources, the move also sends a message to the TMC rebels that while all will not be “absorbed” into the BJP, some with “untainted image” may be inducted.

While the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC has already suffered a series of rebellions after the Assembly election debacle – first with 60 of its 80 MLAs breaking away under Ritabrata Banerjee’s leadership and claiming to be the “real TMC”, and then with 20 Lok Sabha MPs merging with little-known outfit Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and backing the BJP-led NDA – the exits of the three ex-Rajya Sabha MPs followed a different route.

The TMC has now effectively split into three distinct rebel camps, each with its own aims and methods, with Mamata now controlling only a section of the party’s MPs and MLAs.

When asked about the induction of Roy, Dev and Baraik despite its policy on rebels, BJP state chief Samik Bhattacharya said Thursday: “The exception proves the law. The decision of the party leadership is supreme in the BJP. Those who are corrupt in the TMC, the BJP’s doors are closed for them. Don’t say they (three ex-MPs) are TMC, their identity is not TMC.”

A senior BJP leader told The Indian Express: “We are a political party and likewise our leadership takes decisions based on distinctive aims and understanding. Our approach towards the TMC rebels is not uniform since the erosion of that party has taken place at different levels.”

“For the three MPs (Roy, Dev and Baraik), our party has decided to allow them to represent us in the Rajya Sabha. They are suitable for the job. Moreover, this is a message to other good TMC leaders. However, we will never accept tainted TMC workers or leaders,” said the BJP leader.

For the TMC, already grappling with desertions and investigations into its bank accounts by the Criminal Investigation Department of the Bengal Police as well as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the latest crossovers came as another blow.

Reacting to the fresh development, Mamata loyalist and Lok Sabha MP Sougata Roy said, “This was expected. They were with them (BJP). They did it to save their Rajya Sabha seats. This is no loss to the TMC and I doubt any gains for the BJP too. Those turncoats have no value in the eyes of the people.”

“Sukhendu Roy is a senior leader. After 2011, Mamata Banerjee made him a Rajya Sabha member… But just as the party was in the Opposition benches, they chose to leave. He expressed a lot of complaints. Interestingly, when Mamata Banerjee was the CM, no such complaint came from him,” said Kunal Ghosh, a TMC MLA in the Mamata camp.

Akhruzzaman, chief whip of rebel TMC MLAs in the Assembly, said, “First of all, these three MPs resigned from the TMC one month ago. They are not TMC leaders now. Why the BJP accepted them will only be explained by the BJP. The BJP state president said ‘egg therapy’ is not their culture. Even after that, the BJP is throwing eggs. So the BJP is not keeping its word.”

In the Lok Sabha, 20 rebel TMC MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar have already written to Speaker Om Birla, seeking to merge with the NCPI and back the NDA. This would not only provide crucial support to the BJP to pass legislation in the Lower House in the forthcoming monsoon session, but also further corner the Mamata camp.

“It is obvious that the 20 Lok Sabha MPs, though merging with NCPI, will support us in the Lok Sabha,” said a senior BJP leader.

With the rifts widening among the TMC MPs, the more pressing concern for Mamata is the rebel Ritabrata-led camp in the Assembly. After the rebel TMC MLAs rejected Mamata’s choice of Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the party’s Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and instead elected Ritabrata as the LoP, the rebel camp went on to replace Mamata as the party chairperson with Arup Roy.

Now, the rebel TMC MLAs are seeking control of the party’s election symbol and funds. The Ritabrata faction and the Mamata group have both submitted papers to the Election Commission (EC), making competing claims on the TMC. If the rebel MLAs succeed, it would cripple the Mamata camp not only in Bengal, but in Delhi too.