Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs on Friday chose West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee as the chairperson of the parliamentary party.
The announcement was made at a press conference in Delhi. However, it is to be noted that Banerjee is not a Member of Parliament. She failed to win from her stronghold Nandigram after BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari trumped her in the recent West Bengal Assembly Elections.
Talking to the media ahead of the announcement, Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien said that she has been the guiding light behind TMC’s parliamentary party for a long time. He further said that the decision has been taken both at a conceptual and tactical level and that it was just a matter of formality.
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"We are just formalising a reality. Our chairperson is a seven-time Member of Parliament. She has the vision to guide the parliamentary party. She has the experience and insight. She was anyway guiding us," he said.
Mamata Banerjee is expected to arrive in the capital on July 26 where she will make her courtesy calls to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She will also meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and a number of other opposition leaders.
Recently, during the uproar of the Pegasus case, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Shantanu Sen was suspended for the remainder of the Monsoon session after he tore up the statement of Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw amidst the protest.
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TMC has continuously shown a strong stance on the Pegasus row and has been criticising the centre over its Covid handling as well. This has resulted in a heated relationship between the members of both parties.
