What is the story about?
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra on Monday hit out at fellow party leader and former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan for allegedly "rushing" to New
Delhi to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah amid the widespread rebellion in the Mamata Banerjee-led party. Taking to social media platform X, she told Pathan to "show some courage" and reminded him of his days representing India in international cricket. "And @iamyusufpathan you are rushing to Delhi because @AmitShah has called you? Have some courage. You played for India. Our district voted you in with a huge margin. Have some shame & some spine," she wrote on X.
Why is Yusuf Pathan under fire?
The controversy erupted after a front-page article published in a prominent Bengali daily on June 4 alleged that Sourav Ganguly had approached Yusuf Pathan, carrying a message from Mamata Banerjee. As per the report, the message requested Pathan to resign from his post as the MP of the Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency to pave way for the TMC supremo to contest the by-elections from the seat.
Shortly after, Pathan firmly denied reports claiming that Banerjee had asked him to resign.
"For quite some time now, a piece of news has been going viral claiming that Mamata Banerjee asked me to resign from my MP seat, Berhampore Lok Sabha constituency, so that she could contest the election from there. Mamata Banerjee never spoke to me about this matter. This claim is completely false. So, neither Mamata Banerjee nor any party leader has asked me to resign from my MP seat," Pathan said.
The Trinamool Congress' internal crisis has spilled from the West Bengal Assembly to Parliament, with a group of rebel MPs openly challenging Mamata Banerjee's leadership and moving closer to the BJP-led NDA.
Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who has emerged as the face of the rebellion in Parliament, claimed that a group of at least 20 MPs had decided to formally declare support for the NDA.
