Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar Leads 20 Rebel MPs Backing NDA
Twenty Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar wrote to Speaker Om Birla on Monday declaring support for the BJP-led NDA, opening a rebel break from the party’s parliamentary unit. The MPs said they would align their future political course with the NDA, a move that puts 20 of the party’s 28 Lok Sabha seats on a different path.
Ghosh Dastidar said the breakaway decision came after consultations with fellow MPs. In her statement, she said: “We have accepted the people's verdict and believe our future political course should be aligned with the NDA.”
Om Birla Letter
The 20 MPs did not say they would immediately quit the Trinamool Congress or formally join the BJP. Sources in the rebel camp said they intend to function as a separate parliamentary group while continuing to support the NDA.
That structure leaves the MPs inside the party roster for now, while creating a separate bloc in Parliament. The reported aim is to keep the group from falling under disqualification rules tied to the anti-defection law.
Mahua Moitra Post
Mahua Moitra, the Trinamool Congress MP from Krishnanagar, attacked Yusuf Pathan on Monday after he was linked to the rebel camp. She wrote on X: “Our district voted you in by a huge margin. Have some shame and some spine.”
Moitra also said Pathan had rushed to New Delhi after being summoned by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Pathan was recently the subject of reports that the party had sought Sourav Ganguly’s help to persuade him to resign as Baharampur MP, but Ganguly dismissed those claims and accused the publication of acting in “reckless disregard of the truth.”
Pathan And Baharampur
Pathan defeated Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and became the first Trinamool Congress candidate to win Baharampur since the party’s formation in 1998. His position has now become part of the wider split, as the rebel MPs move separately while saying they will still back the NDA.
The latest rupture comes on top of the party crisis inside the legislature wing, where expelled MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha submitted a letter claiming the support of 60 legislators. The letter was signed by 58 MLAs, reaffirmed Mamata Banerjee as the party’s leader and proposed Ritabrata Banerjee for Leader of the Opposition.
With the rebel MPs now organizing separately and the MLAs already claiming support above the two-thirds mark, the party faces parallel challenges in both houses. The immediate question is how the separate parliamentary group will be treated inside the Lok Sabha after the Speaker receives the letter from the 20 MPs.
