Whoever wants to go can go, we are okay with you going: TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee slams rebels

Senior Trinamool Congress leader and Member of Parliament Kalyan Banerjee came down heavily on the group of MPs claiming majority support, deciding to ditch Mamata Banerjee and back the BJP-led NDA.

Calling the rebel MPs' moves as an act of betrayal, Banerjee dared them to go back to their constituency to fight on a BJP ticket.

"People know the truth, they are standing by us. They know 'vote chori' has happened. That's how BJP has won," Banerjee said, adding, "Whoever wants to go, can go. We are okay with you going. But you cannot take the name of Trinamool Congress and Mamata Banerjee. The rebel MPs have proven that Narendra Modi is their leader and not Mamata Banerjee."

Earlier today, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla informing him that Kalyan Banerjee has been appointed as the Chief Whip of the All India Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha with immediate effect. The letter requested that the information be taken on record and necessary action be taken.

Even as Mamata and party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee joined an INDIA bloc strategy huddle in Delhi on Monday, a parallel power struggle within their own party burst into the open in the capital. Senior Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who has emerged as the face of the rebel faction, said a group of MPs had decided to formally declare support for the BJP‑led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Lok Sabha.

Ghosh Dastidar claimed that 20 of the TMC’s 28 Lok Sabha members have agreed to sign a letter to Speaker Om Birla stating that they would function as a bloc backing the NDA. "Nearly twenty TMC MPs, including me, have decided to write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and formally support the NDA," she told PTI, adding that the group had "accepted the people's verdict" and believed their "future political course should be aligned with the NDA".

Numbers, symbolism and the anti-defection shield

The arithmetic is crucial. The TMC currently has 28 members in the Lok Sabha, with one seat vacant after the death of Basirhat MP Haji Nurul Islam; a bloc of 20 would comfortably cross the two‑thirds mark that, in theory, puts defectors beyond the reach of the anti‑defection law.

Party sources say the MPs have deliberately chosen not to resign from the TMC or formally join the BJP, preferring instead to function as a separate group supporting the NDA -- a tactic designed as a legal shield against disqualification.

TMC leaders, however, insist the rebels are misreading both law and ethics. One senior functionary argued that even a two‑thirds split does not allow a parliamentary party to simply morph into an independent formation.

"As per the law, even if two-thirds of MPs wish to leave a party, the only choice they have is to merge with another political party. There is no provision for a separate group," the leader said, insisting that any attempt to support the NDA while retaining TMC membership would be “illegal, unconstitutional and unethical”.

The moral line is equally sharply drawn. “Since all these MPs got elected on TMC ticket they should do what Sukhendu did — resign instead of getting into a situation where they will support BJP from the backdoor,” the leader added, referring to veteran Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray’s decision to quit both the Upper House and the party.