NEW DELHI: The Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday expelled her former aide and ex-Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, along with seven other rebel MLAs, a day after the dissident camp “ousted” the former West Bengal chief minister as the party’s chairperson.Also Read | Rebel bloc removes Mamata Banerjee from TMC chief’s post, to tell EC it’s the ‘real party’Besides Hakim, the expelled leaders include Javed Ahmed Khan, Arup Roy, Rathin Ghosh, Biplab Mitra, Sabina Yasmin, Aroop Biswas and Snehasis Chakraborty.The move came hours after the Mamata-led faction issued show-cause notices to the rebels, accusing them of “deliberately engaging in anti-party activities.”On Monday, the rebel camp led by leader of the opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, announced a new leadership structure for the TMC, naming veteran MLA Arup Roy as its chairperson in place of Mamata Banerjee, who launched Trinamool in 1998 after quitting the Congress and had been its leader since then.The dissidents also unveiled a 30-member National Working Committee (NWC), while maintaining that they wanted the former West Bengal chief minister to serve as their “mentor.”Ritabrata Banerjee later said Arup Roy had been “unanimously elected” as the Trinamool’s new chairperson. Former minister Aroop Biswas and MLA Firhad Hakim were appointed vice-chairpersons.“A special session of the All India Trinamool Congress was organised here today. During this session, the All India Trinamool Congress Committee and the NWC were constituted through a unanimous election of delegates. Arup Roy has been elected as the chairperson of the All India Trinamool Congress,” Ritabrata Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata.The 30-member committee includes Firhad Hakim, Arup Biswas, Rathin Ghosh, Sabina Yasmin, Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha and others.Ritabrata Banerjee further said district presidents and district committees would also be constituted in the coming days.“We have repeatedly stated our stance regarding Mamata Banerjee’s role within the TMC. We want ‘Didi’ to assume the responsibility of a mentor and guide us,” he added.The dissidents claim support of at least 60 of TMC’s 80 legislators. 20 of the party’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs have already broken away, merging with the little-known Nationalist Citizens’ Party of India, which contested elections in neighbouring Tripura in 2023 but failed to open its account.(with ANI inputs)
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