“Once the MP-MLA things are over, the municipalities will be shifting. The municipalities, the corporations, the Zilla Parishads, even people who are presidents of different districts are already in touch with us. It is a parliamentary democracy. Numbers are important in Parliamentary democracy. Anyhow, let’s meet at the Election Commission,” Banerjee told Express in an interview.

“The Trinamool’s grassroots organisation will be holding a meeting. We are working out what we will do. The primary focus was on the MLAs, then the MPs, then slowly we will be taking over the corporations, then the municipalities, then the Zilla Parishads,” he reiterated.

A view of the TMC posters in New Delhi. (ANI)

Asked if this faction would stake claim as the real TMC, the Uluberia Purba MLA said, “We are the TMC, what real what non-real? More than two-thirds of the MPs are on board, more than two-thirds of the MLAs are on board …. If necessary, we will meet at the Election Commission.”

Banerjee said he said had handed over a letter to Speaker Rathindra Bose with signatures of 58 MLAs. Three more MLAs had given separate letters to the Speaker and three more would submit letters on Monday, taking the number of MLAs in this group up to 64. The number eventually will touch 67-68, he said. The TMC has 80 MLAs in total.

This group of TMC rebel legislators would function as the Opposition against the BJP in Bengal while the rebel MPs would align with the NDA in the Lok Sabha, Banerjee said.

“The MPs are in Delhi. Once they return, definitely our leadership in the Assembly will try to sit with them. I cannot tell what will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but what I can say is that as fear is contagious, so is courage. So I congratulate everybody. We will be opposing the BJP, but any one of my MP colleagues, if they decide they will be supporting the NDA, that may be a politically 180-degree opposite stance, but I will still congratulate him or her. It is a fight against dictatorship and a fight for democracy,” Banerjee said.

Hitting out at Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, the opposition to whom appears to be the common thread tying the rebel MPs and MLAs, Banerjee said, “A grassroots-level party belonging to Mamata Banerjee has been conveniently hijacked by a corporate bureaucracy.” This appears to be a reference to the influence of political consultancy I-PAC, which was brought in by Abhishek to advise the party and run its operations on the ground and whose influence many of the rebels have cited as a reason for the party’s defeat.

Who leads the rebels?

Asked who will head the rebels overall, Banerjee said, “As far as the Legislature Party is concerned, I may have spearheaded it, but I come from a Left background. I never consider myself a leader. I am a team man. Fifty-eight MLAs were present when we went to the Speaker. Now another three have physically gone to the Speaker and given their letters. Another three are waiting. They will be giving on Monday. Currently the number is 64, but the number is going to increase before the Assembly meets (in the coming week),” he said.

“As far as the leadership is concerned, it is a collective leadership. It is like a football team. The position I have been appointed to play is called the Leader of the Opposition. Akhruzzaman (the MLA from Raghunathganj in Murshidabad district) is playing in a position which is called chief whip. Sandipan Saha is in a position as the deputy leader. Our fight is against an individual and corporate bureaucracy. So I won’t present myself as a leader. I am obviously an important member of the team,” Banerjee said.

Asked about the argument of the TMC group loyal to Mamata and Abhishek Banerjee that there was no legal provision for a group of MLAs or MPs to function as a separate bloc in the Assembly or Parliament and that they would face disqualification if they did so, Banerjee said, “I congratulate them for their wishful thinking. Mamata Banerjee had called a meeting. Of the 80 elected MLAs, only eight were there. And even from among those eight, two of them will be joining us. Twenty to 22 MPs are against them. So what is left?”

“As far as the Legislature Party is concerned, we will be a fierce Opposition in the amphitheatre of the Assembly. The House belongs to the Opposition. We will be fighting the government, but fighting the government does not mean fighting everything; if the government does something good. We will be clear enough to tell publicly that this is good,” said the LoP.

Asked if the rebels still owe allegiance to Mamata Banerjee, he said, “Whatever we have said, we are not changing our position. Our Legislature Party has requested Mamata Banerjee to work as the chief adviser of this group. We stand by that.”