Crucial day for Trinamool Congress; Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar may ruin Mamata's last-ditch effort

NEW DELHI: Around 20 MPs of the Trinamool Congress are reportedly in talks with the BJP leadership in Delhi. Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee, who came to attend today's India Front meeting, is trying to defend a split. The BJP leadership is preparing for the talks after the rebels expressed confidence that 20 members of the party are with them. If they leave, the BJP's move is to provide a place in Parliament as a separate bloc. Currently, Trinamool has 28 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 13 in the Rajya Sabha. There are also indications that the rebel MPs, led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, will meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday.

Trinamool sources admit that some of the Lok Sabha MPs will certainly leave the party. But they believe that 16 will remain loyal to Mamata. If that happens, the rebels will not get the two-thirds majority required to avoid a defection. Meanwhile, Mamata and her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party too was the victim of a similar split. The party is reeling after eight MPs joined the BJP in the recent past.