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There has been a huge political upheaval within the ruling party of West Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC). TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, who is facing a huge rebellion by MLAs in the state assembly, is now fearing a big and historic breakdown in the country’s Parliament (Lok Sabha) too. Many angry Lok Sabha MPs of the party have suddenly left Kolkata and camped in Delhi, which has intensified speculations about the disintegration of the TMC parliamentary party. For this reason, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is having sleepless nights and she is haunted by the fear of the magical figure of ’19’. To control this possible damage, Mamata Banerjee has taken a big step and has shunned her nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and is herself coming to Delhi to take charge.

Understand what is the complete mathematics of ’19 MPs’ and the law of defection

After all, why is Mamata Banerjee afraid of the figure of 19? It is very important to understand this mathematics. Actually, Trinamool Congress has a total of 28 MPs in the current Lok Sabha. To avoid action under the country’s stringent anti-defection law and cancellation of membership, any rebel group will have to break away at least two-thirds of the MPs from the parent party. Exactly 19 constitute two-thirds of the 28 MPs. That is, if 19 MPs of the angry group separate together, then their membership will remain and they can merge into a new party or any other party. Mamata, who has already seen the rebellion of 58 MLAs in the Bengal Assembly, does not want its repetition in Delhi at any cost.

Scissors used in Kalighat meeting, due to this Abhishek Banerjee’s rights reduced

Amidst this murmur of rebellion, Mamata Banerjee called an emergency and very important meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) at her residence in Kalighat, Kolkata. In this meeting, Mamata made many major changes at the organizational level from top to bottom. He appointed Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen as joint national secretaries. This step is being seen as a direct way to stop and curtail the growing influence of Abhishek Banerjee. According to sources, the biggest resentment of the rebel MPs is about the working style of Diamond Harbor MP Abhishek Banerjee and the ‘syndicate’ formed around him. Angry leaders allege that Abhishek keeps distance from grassroots workers and MPs.

Which rebel MPs camped in Delhi and what is whose stand?

Amidst this turmoil within TMC, Cooch Behar MP Jagdish Chandra Basunia has already reached Delhi, although he claims that he has come to meet a sick relative. If sources are to be believed, two big actor-MPs may also attend Delhi Darbar in the next few days. Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar has made sharp attacks on the high command, but has denied involvement in any rebellion. On the other hand, Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra, Dumdum MP Saugata Roy and Kirti Azad have expressed their unwavering loyalty towards Mamata Banerjee in this hour of crisis. Saugata Roy termed it as BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ and said that BJP is trying to break regional parties with the help of money power and agencies, which will be countered strongly.

‘India’ alliance meeting and Mamata Banerjee’s visit to Delhi

Mamata Banerjee herself is reaching Delhi on June 8 to calm the internal strife in the Lok Sabha and to give a direct message to the rebel MPs. However, officially his visit is taking place to attend the important meeting of the opposition ‘India’ alliance, in which Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O’Brien will also be present along with him. But political analysts believe that Mamata’s visit to Delhi is more to keep her party MPs united and quell the fire of rebellion than to hold a coalition meeting. Now it will be interesting to see whether Mamata Banerjee is able to save TMC from disintegration with her Delhi visit or whether the politics of Bengal takes a new turn.