Signatures of 19 Trinamool MPs on three pages surface, spark confusion over formation of new LS bloc

Kolkata: Three pages carrying signatures of 19 Trinamool Congress MPs surfaced on Friday, reportedly claiming to be the main and majority bloc of the party’s representation in the Lok Sabha.

Confusion persisted over whether these three pages are the concluding portions of the purported letter that the MPs, under the leadership of Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Satabdi Roy, have reportedly submitted to the office of the Lok Sabha Speaker.

In the three surfacing pages, copies of which are available, the first signature is that of Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, the four-time party Lok Sabha member from Barasat constituency in North 24 Parganas district, and the second signature is that of Satabdi Roy, an actress-turned-politician and another four-time party Lok Sabha member from Birbhum constituency in Birbhum district.

However, the authenticity of the three pages carrying the signatures of 19 Lok Sabha members could not be verified.

The signatures of other 17 Lok Sabha members that are visible in the three pages include Bapi Halder from Mathurapur, Sharmila Sarkar from Burdwan East, Prasun Banerjee from Howrah, Jagadish Verma Basunia from Cooch Behar, Asit Mal from Bolpur, Arup Chakraborty from Bankura, Kalipada Soren from Jhargram, Deepak Adhikari a.k.a, Dev from Ghatal, June Malia from Medinipur, Partha Bhowmik from Barrackpore, Khalilur Rahman from Jangipur, Abu Taher Khan from Murshidabad, Yusuf Pathan from Baharampur, Mitali Bagh from Arambagh, Mala Roy from Kolkata (Dakshin), Rachana Banerjee from Hooghly and Sayoni Ghiosh from Jadavpur.

The signatures of Rachana Banerjee and Jadavpur MP Saini Ghosh are there in two separate places, but not in the order of signatures. Although none of these 19 rebel MPs has spoken a single word on this issue, party sources close to one of these rebels said that since both Rachana Banerjee and Sayoni Ghosh signed the letter at a later stage, their signatures were done separately.

No official confirmation about the letter has come from the office of the Speaker.

Currently, Trinamool Congress’ strength in the Lok Sabha is 27. The chair of the MP from Basirhat constituency in North 24 Parganas district is vacant following the demise of the Trinamool Congress MP from there, Haji Sk. Nurul Islam, in September 2024, a few months after being elected.

IANS