TMC Rebellion Escalates: Rebel MLAs Claim Two-Thirds Majority, Leader of Opposition

The controversy escalated on Wednesday when 58 of the 80 new TMC MLAs marched to Speaker Rathindranath Bose's chamber. The rebel group is led by recently expelled party MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha. These rebels claim they have the two-thirds majority required to avoid the anti-defection law. They have officially staked their claim on the TMC legislature party and have declared Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the opposition. Moitra took strong exception to the claims of these MLAs. All these MLAs have won only because of Mamata Banerjee's name and her leadership. According to Moitra, the votes these MLAs received were entirely anti-BJP. She pointed out that the TMC had secured 41 percent of the votes on Mamata Banerjee's face and the party symbol. AdvertisingTrending videos showed the MP openly challenging the rebel MLAs that they could not ask Azad to resign himself, mockingly asking them to contest from their new seats.