TMC factions lock horns over Trinamool Bhawan

Kolkata: The fight between the two factions of the Trinamool Congress intensified on Friday, with the rival camps locking horns over Trinamool Bhawan, the Kolkata-based headquarters of the party.

On Friday evening, chaos erupted as the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel group of the Trinamool Congress took control of Trinamool Bhawan, held a meeting there and locked the premises.

Leaders of the Mamata Banerjee-led faction, including party spokesperson and MLA Kunal Ghosh, Madan Mitra and others, rushed to Trinamool Bhawan.


Ghosh said the party was looking into the matter. He added that the Trinamool MLAs who had reached the party office - Firhad Hakim, Sandipan Saha and Ritabrata Banerjee - were elected on Trinamool tickets under Mamata Banerjee's leadership. "We need to see why they have come. It is not known to us. You (rebels) are creating a state committee and have also locked Trinamool Bhawan. It is unacceptable that someone should come and lock Trinamool Bhawan. The police have been deployed there," Ghosh said. The Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel faction, headed by the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly, claims the support of around 64 MLAs, while the Mamata Banerjee-led faction has been reduced to a minority.

On Thursday, Ritabrata Banerjee led a 10-member delegation of the dissident Trinamool Congress faction to the ECI in New Delhi and staked his faction's claim to the TMC's twin-flower symbol and ownership of the party's funds.