New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is crumbling like a pack of cards.
After around 60 MLAs broke ranks with the Mamata Banerjee-led party, 20 dissident Lok Sabha MPs (out of 28) on Monday decided to chart a different path and align with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Led by chief whip Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, the 20 TMC MPs submitted a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking to join the BJP-led alliance which is in power at the Centre.
“We accepted the poll verdict in Bengal. We believe our future political course should be aligned with the NDA,” Kakoli said, referring to the recent Assembly polls in which the BJP won 208 seats out of 294 seats, pushing TMC (80) out of power after a 15-year rule.
“We are forming a different bloc of 20 MPs and will extend support to the NDA. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar is our chief whip and Shatabdi Roy is our deputy leader,” Sharmila Sarkar, one of the rebel MPs, told NDTV.
The move was announced after these MPs met chief minister Suvendu Adhikari and Union minister Bhupendra Yadav at the latter’s Delhi residence.
On Monday morning, TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Shekhar Ray submitted his resignation to the Speaker of the Upper House of Parliament.
Ironically, Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee were attending the INDIA bloc meeting in the national Capital when their party was being dealt the biggest blow.
