NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday wrote to Speaker Om Birla citing the legal and Constitutional provisions to firmly assert that the All India Trinamool Congress must be treated as a single political party represented in the House solely through its duly authorised leader and whip, and decline to accord any recognition, status, or facility to any purported separate group or faction of the AITC.Ahead of TMC rebel MPs’ meeting the speaker to seek recognition as “real TMC”, MPs from party chief Mamata Banerjee’s camp Kirti Azad and Sagarika Ghosh submitted Abhishek’s letter — dated June 10, sent through email earlier — at Birla’s residence here, arguing the Constitution does not permit formation of a separate group within an existing political party.“We went to him to deliver the hard copy. He wasn’t there, so we received an acknowledgment from his office. There is no provision in the Constitution for forming a separate group,” Azad told reporters. Banerjee in the letter also sought that Trinamool Congress must be given an opportunity of being heard before any decision is taken on any communication regarding any group staking claim to be the real TMC. He also informed the Speaker that the AITC reserves its rights, including its right to initiate appropriate proceedings under the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution, in respect of any conduct falling foul of the legal and Constitutional provisions referred to in the letter.“My attention has been drawn to news reports that certain members of the Lok Sabha belonging to the AITC have submitted, or propose to submit, a communication seeking to be recognised as a separate group or faction of the AITC, independent of the legislative party,” Banerjee said in the letter.“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,” he added.“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 further stated.Banerjee went on to highlight that this position is squarely settled by the judgment of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in Subhash Desai v. Principal Secretary, Governor of Maharashtra & Ors., 2023.Citing the judgement in detail, he said that it is clear the possibility of recognition as a separate group or faction of the AITC — is unknown to law and impermissible. “After the 91st amendment, the only lawful route by which a body of members may lawfully realign is a merger within the meaning of Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule, when two conditions are satisfied – namely when the political party merges and, cumulatively, two-thirds of the legislature party switches,” Banerjee added.Banerjee also contended that any merger claim would require both a merger of the political party and the support of two-thirds of legislators, and added that satisfying only one of these conditions would not be sufficient under the law.“Short of that, any voluntary act by which a member or members hold themselves out as a separate party/faction would attract disqualification under the Tenth Schedule as a voluntary giving up of membership of the political party,” Banerjee said. After submitting the letter, Sagarika Ghose added “We have given a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker that TMC is an indivisible party. Those who want to break the TMC and form a separate group within the Lok Sabha – is against the Constitution.”Lashing out at the rebel MPs she said, “This reflects your moral weakness that when the party loses you abandon that party, that leader, that symbol on which you won.”
