Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday claimed that the ruling BJP, which has 209 MLAs, would secure the support of 275 legislators if a floor test were to be held in the Assembly “tomorrow”, asserting that 64 Opposition MLAs were ready to back him.
“The number of MLAs has now reached 209. Let there be a floor test in the Assembly tomorrow. I will get the votes of 275 MLAs. As many as 64 MLAs sitting there (in the Opposition benches) are waiting to raise their hands in my favour,” Suvendu said on Wednesday after meeting bereaved families of the Chorebagan stampede victims in Baranagar, North 24-Parganas.
Although Suvendu did not specify that the 64 would come from the rebel Trinamool Congress group (Democratic TMC) led by leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, the figure cannot be reached without its support.
The BJP won 208 of the 294 Assembly seats in the summer election, ending Trinamool’s 15-year rule. The Mamata Banerjee-led party was reduced to 80 seats.
The BJP’s tally rose to 209 after its victory in the Rejinagar bypoll, which AJUP founder Humayun Kabir won during the Assembly polls, but vacated to retain the
Nowda seat.
‘Proxy ruling party’
Soon after Suvendu became chief minister, the Trinamool legislative party split into two factions. More than 60 MLAs, led by Ritabrata and Arup Roy, formed a rebel faction against Mamata and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. Mamata’s Trinamool, along with Opposition parties such as the CPM and the Congress, accused the breakaway group of acting as a BJP proxy.
As Suvendu claimed 64 more MLAs would support him, both the Mamata-led Trinamool and the CPM said this only reinforced their belief.
“By making this statement, he (Suvendu) proved what we had been saying was correct. In other words, the BJP is running the Opposition camp by using that faction as a front, and all those MLAs in that particular camp are agents of the BJP,” said Beleghata MLA and Mamata loyalist Kunal Ghosh. “Trinamool MLAs who won on anti-BJP votes should take a decision after such a statement by the chief minister.”
Ghosh challenged Suvendu to a floor test through a secret ballot, alleging that in that case “MLAs from his own party will break away”.
CPM leaders called Suvendu’s statement an assault on democracy.
“If 64 Opposition MLAs are waiting to raise their hands in support of the chief minister, they are not really the Opposition,” said CPM veteran Sujan Chakraborty. “Everyone understood this, and now he said it himself. This very statement of Suvendu Adhikari will serve as a reference before the court.”
Rebels deny claim
The Trinamool rebel faction denied the claims. Member of the breakaway Trinamool group and Raghunathganj MLA Akhruzzaman told The Telegraph: “We have no association with the BJP. We were opposed to the BJP earlier, and we will continue to oppose it. Only the chief minister will be able to explain why he made the statement and which 64 MLAs he was referring to.”