TMC head or chief adviser? Rebels divided on Didi role

Kolkata: Whether Mamata Banerjee would be Trinamool chief or chief adviser appeared to be the fulcrum of the standoff among half of the 32 rebel MLAs who turned up at the Bengal assembly for their first meeting with newly elected office-bearers on Thursday.The development came a day after 58 TMC MLAs submitted a letter to the assembly speaker, nominating first-time MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as leader of the opposition.On Thursday, around 32 MLAs — including Sandipan Saha, Javed Khan, Sabina Yasmin, Gulshan Mullick, Mosaraf Hossain and Siuli Saha — were present when Ritabrata chaired his first meeting in the LoP chamber. Several rebels claimed they had been told that the new bloc would be headed by Mamata Banerjee. This was also part of a paragraph in the letter that the 58 MLAs signed. It was only after they had signed it was announced that Mamata's role would remain restricted to that of an adviser.If Abhishek Banerjee's letter to the speaker proposing Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as LoP lit the fuse in the Signgate scandal, the letter by the rebel MLAs triggered the rumblings within the bloc.The friction was also stoked by the old camp. "How many and who are the MLAs who signed both letters? Do they know the legal consequences of this?" asked Kunal Ghosh, the Beleghata MLA and a staunch Mamata loyalist.Howrah's Panchla MLA Mullick led the voice of dissent. "Mamata Banerjee is not only our guide but she is also our sole neta. If she is not the chairperson, many of us will be compelled to sever ties with Ritabrata Banerjee's camp and return to Mamata Banerjee," he said.According to Mullick, five or six other legislators from Howrah also opposed the change of decision regarding Mamata's role. "She is our neta. If anyone says Mamata Banerjee will only be a guide, we will never accept that," the Panchla legislator said.Itahar MLA Hossain claimed to have spoken to some rebels who now "wanted to return". "They are saying they want to return to Mamata Banerjee and that they were misguided," he said.Sensing the mood, Ghosh hit back. "Those who went against the party's decision and wrote a letter to the Speaker, where is that letter by those worshippers of transparency? Why can't even the so-called revolutionary MLAs show it? Why is the list of signatories being kept a secret?" he asked.Seven of the eight Murshidabad MLAs may have joined the rebel camp but Jalangi MLA Babar Ali, known as the world's youngest headmaster, made it clear he would not "betray" Mamata. "I spoke to her for the first time on Wednesday, discussing how the new camp is offering us the chance to join them. I have assured her that under no circumstances would I leave her. If needed, I may quit politics," Ali said.