New Delhi: The turmoil in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has now sneaked into the party's parliamentary ranks. In a big setback to Mamata Banerjee, nine
out of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) are in the rebel camp, sources told Times Now. Meanwhile, Derek O'Brien, Dola Sen, Sagarika Ghosh, and Menaka Guruswamy are reportedly aligned with the party leadership. Earlier in the day, TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray resigned from the primary membership of the party as well as from the Upper House. Notably, Ray is the longest-serving Rajya Sabha MP of the TMC. Ray is TMC's most prominent parliamentary face and a Rajya Sabha member since 2011. He sent his resignation letter to party chief Mamata Banerjee. In the letter, he claimed that the people of West Bengal had rejected the Trinamool Congress after 15 years in power and accused the party of corruption and misgovernance. "The electorate of Bengal expressed their absolute lack of confidence in the TMC," Roy wrote. He said he was resigning after accepting what he described as the "historic verdict" delivered by voters. The development has come at a time when Mamata Banerjee is in Delhi for attending the opposition's INDIA bloc meeting. Ray's resignation came against the backdrop of a major political upheaval following the recent West Bengal Assembly elections. A group of 58 TMC MLAs reportedly broke ranks and backed former party leader Ritabrata Banerjee for the post of the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly. Ritabrata was later selected as LoP. Also Read: Another TMC Leader Attacked: Eggs Hurled at MLA Madan Mitra, Protesters Chant 'Chor Chor' The unprecedented rebellion had already raised questions about the cohesion of the party's legislative and organisational structure. So far, there is no official statement released by the TMC on Ray's resignation.
In the recently concluded assembly polls, the TMC managed to bag only 80 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 207, ending Mamata's 15-year rule in the state.
