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Kolkata: On a frantic Friday, Mamata Banerjee-led TMC seemed headed for a political freefall.
Only eight of the party's 78 MLAs and six of its 41 MPs attended a meeting called by the party supremo at her residence in Kalighat, despite her personally reaching out to rebel legislators in a bid to prevent a further rupture within the party.
In a desperate face-saving exercise, TMC claimed it was a National Working Committee meeting and that not all MPs and MLAs had been invited.
But as discontent against her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, continued to grow, the three-time CM revamped the party's organisational structure. While Abhishek was retained as National General Secretary, Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen were appointed National Joint Secretaries to assist him — a move widely seen as an attempt to institutionalise collective decisionmaking at the top and dilute the concentration of organisational authority.
The leaders present at Mamata's residence included MLAs Bina Mondal, Ashima Patra, Madan Mitra, Kunal Ghosh, Firhad Hakim, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Biman Banerjee and Ashok Kumar Deb. The MPs in attendance were Dola Sen, Mala Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O'Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay. The party countered online charges of poor attendance, saying: "Pls note - it was a NATIONAL WORKING COMMITTEE and not of ALL MLAs or MPs. Many MPs like Mahua Moitra, Sushmita Dev, Mukul Sangma and Rajesh Tripathi, who are part of the National WC, had joined virtually." At the meeting, Mamata unveiled a sweeping organisational overhaul, announcing a new leadership structure packed with loyalists and old-timers. The move signalled a decisive attempt to tighten her grip on the party.
The changes came just two days after TMC dissolved all its committees and frontal organisations, following the rebellion by 58 MLAs who joined two expelled legislators in proclaiming themselves the "real" Trinamool Congress.
Conspicuously absent from the revamped organisational structure was Firhad Hakim, who resigned as Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation earlier in the day.
Amid speculation that around 20 MPs could also raise the banner of revolt, veteran Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy suggested that the rebellion that has shaken the party's legislative wing could eventually find an echo among its MPs as well.
In a social media post, disgruntled Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar again targeted the party leadership, describing the poll outcome as a "verdict against policy and failure of governance".
Following Friday's meeting, Kalyan termed the appointment of Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly "illegal". He announced that the party would move the Calcutta High Court to challenge the appointment.
