The top Trinamool Congress leadership is angered and worried about its “disorderly” MLAs who had nearly brought the Government down “by a whisker” this Budget season that ended a couple of days ago.
According to the party sources despite a “whip” issued at the instance of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee about 50 to 100 MLAs absented from the State Assembly. This, on a day when a finance bill and an education bill were to be passed. “Thankfully the BJP leadership had walked out on a different issue … or else had they demanded a vote on the Bill it would have been the worse day for the party in past 14-15 years of its rule,” said a senior minister. “They had the audacity of even ignoring a whip issued at the instance of the Chief Minister,” the leader said adding the party disciplinary committee was inquiring into the matter and “if need be strong action will be taken against them.”
According to Chief Whip Nirmal Ghosh he had had issued a whip for all MLAs to attend the last two days of the Budget Session on March 19 and 20 because the Chief Minister personally wanted everyone to remain present in the House.
However “the leadership was dismayed by the fact that more than 50 MLAs … and it could be even near hundred … remained absent … either they did not know the what Whip means or else they had some ‘intentions’ to embarrass the Chief Minister … the disciplinary committee will find it out and deal with them accordingly,” the leader said.
State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay has asked Ghosh to submit a report on the number of leaders who generally remain absent from the House and who skipped the Session on the specific days when they were asked to do so, the leader said. The TMC would not however provide the names of the MLAs who skipped the House on the given dates.
The inquiry will be complete by Wednesday and action will be taken by the end of this week senior leaders said adding, “our supreme leader Mamata Banerjee never encourages indiscipline … particularly when some instructions come from the top … the Government would have been hugely embarrassed had the BJP remained present on that day and had the bills been put to vote … we would have to withdraw the bills,” the minister said without hazarding a guess whether according to rules the Government would itself had collapsed or the Opposition had asked for the Chief Minister’s resignation in the least in case of “non passage” of the bills.
Though the BJP leadership would not comment on “TMC’s internal matters” some of its leaders said how a number of Trinamool legislators were in touch with the saffron outfit and did not rule out a link between their defiance of the whip and the factionalism that was plaguing the party.
Incidentally the development takes place at a time when there are rumors that there is a deep schism between TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and the Chief Minister who is also his aunt.
Though the junior Banerjee earlier said that he would never ditch the Chief Minister even if he is beheaded, inside sources said there was a serious churning within the party between the old timers loyal to an aging Mamata Banerjee and the Gen N faithful to Abhishek.
When asked to comment on the issue the TMC minister said that the absence of the MLAs from the House should not be seen in the backdrop of factionalism as “there is no one in TMC who can win without the blessings of Mamata Banerjee … and so there is no one in the party who will dare to defy her … still we are not taking chances and the truth will soon be found out.”
