The widening fissures within the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was in full display on Tuesday when two of its Lok Sabha MPs June Maliah and Deepak Adhikari aka Dev, shared the stage with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at an administrative review meeting in Purba Medinipur district.
This comes a day after a dramatic rebellion played out in Delhi as 20 TMC Lok Sabha MPs, led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar informed Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla that they want to be part of the BJP-NDA and snap ties with the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
The presence of Medinipur MP June Maliah and Ghatal MP Dev at the government programme in Kolaghat has intensified speculation over the political crisis engulfing the TMC.
The attendance of Maliah and Dev at the Chief Minister’s official programme is being viewed as a significant political signal, particularly because both parliamentarians are said to be among those who have moved closer to the dissident camp in the Lok Sabha.
Their presence alongside the West Bengal Chief Minister is likely to fuel further speculation about shifting loyalties within the ruling party.
Keshpur MLA Seuli Saha who was also spotted at the event is also believed to have aligned with the rebel faction.
Political observers said that Purba Medinipur has long been a battleground between the TMC and Suvendu Adhikari’s political network in the region. The participation of two sitting TMC MPs in the meeting chaired by the Chief Minister assumes added significance.
Neither Maliah nor Dev publicly commented on the ongoing crisis or their presence at the administrative meeting. TMC leadership, too, remained guarded on the issue, even as efforts continued to contain the fallout from the parliamentary revolt.
The development in Purba Medinipur has underscored the growing challenge before the TMC leadership as it seeks to prevent the organisational unrest in the state assembly from spilling over further into its parliamentary ranks.