NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla urging him to “decline any recognition to separate faction of TMC”.Banerjee said reports suggesting that a group of TMC MPs may seek recognition as an independent bloc were legally untenable. He asserted that the TMC remains a “single, indivisible political party” and argued that no member or group of members can create a parallel faction and claim separate recognition within the House.“The AITC is a single, indivisible political party. The legislative party in the Lok Sabha derives its very existence from, and remains an emanation of, the political party. There is in law only one AITC, one Leader of the Party in the House, and one Whip, all of whom hold office by authority of the political party and its competent organisational authority. No member or set of members can, by their own volition, carve out a parallel ‘group’ or ‘faction’ of the same party and claim independent recognition within the House,” he said in the letter.This comes amid claims by rebel MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar that the dissident camp’s strength has risen to 22 MPs in the 28-member TMC contingent in the Lok Sabha.Dissident MPs have reportedly sought recognition as a separate parliamentary bloc, while several rebel lawmakers have also held meetings with senior BJP leaders in New Delhi, intensifying the political crisis facing Mamata Banerjee’s party.
