Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 19 : Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Kunal Ghosh on Friday lashed out at rebel party MPs, demanding that those planning to shift allegiance to the NDA should resign as MPs from Parliament first amid the internal crisis in the party deepened over a factional split and merger move.
Speaking to ANI, Ghosh said, "We have nothing to say about the party's funds because this fund department has nothing to do with us. Those people who won in 2024 were anti-BJP voters. But after the MLA election, they have no connection with it."
He further alleged that the rebel MPs attempting to align with the NDA should resign from the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha first.
"After the election, they are saying that we will go to the NDA and become friends of the BJP. Those people should resign from the Rajya Sabha, and then they should resign in the Lok Sabha," Ghosh said.
"The resignation model of rebels in the Rajya Sabha, somehow, in the Lok Sabha, one will have to keep the MP seat. What is this, you people were not independent by origin, you were Mamata Banerjee's candidate, so if you want to do all this, then first resign," he added.
His remarks come at a time when rebellion grows within the Trinamool Congress. A total of 58 MLAs of the Trinamool Congress have already formed a separate faction within the West Bengal assembly, where Ritabrata Banerjee has been recognised as Leader of Opposition by the speaker Rathindra Bose.
On the other hand, in the Lok Sabha, two-thirds of MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar have merged with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and have also written to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla for a separate seating arrangement in the lower house.
The crisis has prompted party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee to move to Delhi along with MP Derek O'Brien, where the party is preparing a legal and political challenge. He has already written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, asserting that the AITC remains a "single, indivisible political party" and opposing recognition of any breakaway faction.
The party has also reiterated its reliance on constitutional provisions under the Tenth Schedule, arguing that any split or merger requires strict legal thresholds, including support of two-thirds of legislators, while maintaining that the proposed factional recognition is "impermissible under law".